On the last Saturday night before Spring Break, I found myself in a situation most students try to avoid – back and forth between the inside of a squad car and the police station.

Alongside Lt. Geoff Huff, who has served the Ames Police Department for more than 12 years, I cruised the streets of Ames hoping to gain perspective on a night in the life of the law.

Huff works the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. patrol shift, which he enjoys because it allows him to spend more time with his two young daughters, and also provides the excitement and entertainment of closing time at the bars on Welch Avenue.

Students were out in full force Saturday evening despite the weather, which Huff considers to be a major factor in the amount of activity.

“The weather makes all the difference – the parties are smaller in cold weather and people don’t hang around as long,” Huff said.

“If the weather improves like it is supposed to, we will see an increase in calls, more people out.”

Although the seriousness of calls ranged, Huff maintained a friendly demeanor and a surprising propensity to be cool.

Instead of having a car that was parked on the wrong side of the street facing the wrong direction towed, he manipulated his way up a fleet of snow and ice-covered stairs to advise the partying students to move it.

When responding to a “DPQ,” disturbing the peace and quiet, Huff and a back-up officer told the underage partiers to turn down the music.

In these circumstances, tickets could have been issued, nights could have been ruined and become quite costly, but they weren’t.

Huff graduated from the University of Northern Iowa and acknowledges that most students are out having “responsible fun.”

“I know – I had a lot of fun in college,” Huff said.

After assisting in the arrest and transportation of a young male, who was arrested for operating while intoxicated after allegedly striking a pedestrian with his vehicle, it was off to Welch Avenue where hundreds of inebriated students in green hats – it was Rolling Rock Day – lined the venues.

“You see a lot of falling these last couple of days – especially at bar close,” Huff said. “That’s kind of fun to watch.”

We laughed as girls in tank tops and stilettos slipped and slid around the pavement, a gyro customer biffed it hard while impressively managing to hold his gyro in the air to avoid total catastrophe and agreed that in these treacherous conditions it’s hard to be cool.

“You get arrested for public intox in this town because you’ve drawn attention to yourself,” Huff said contrarily while discussing the people who swear they were doing nothing wrong when ticketed.

“If you are falling down or into the street, we will protect you from yourself.”

While parked at the fire station on Welch Avenue, passing students acknowledged the presence of enforcement differently, some waving and smiling, others never lifting their eyes off the ground.

Jonathan Fisher, senior in marketing, was one of the bold few to strike up conversation with the two officers.

Obviously intoxicated, Fisher made jokes for a few moments before being told to be on his way.

Huff spoke about this year’s upcoming Veishea and a bid bar owners are making to close Welch Avenue for St. Patrick’s Day.

“I don’t think we are expecting any problems, but we have to prepare,” Huff said.

“We want people to have fun, just be responsible about it. Nothing makes officers more angry than when people make victims out of other people,” referring to the senseless vandalism he sees on a regular basis.