When the police arrived at the Hunt Street party on April 8, the officers wanted to talk things over before advancing on the growing crowd gathering in the backyard.

The officers — part of Ames Police’s party response team — discussed how they would enter the house; two plain-clothed officers would enter the house from the front while Sgt. Geoff Huff and Officer Matt Duncan would go through the backyard. Another two uniformed officers would stay back by the cruisers.

Huff opened the trunk of his unmarked cruiser to retrieve a video recorder.

“This is to document what we’re doing, and, if necessary, it can be used as evidence,” he said.

Lt. Mike Brennan said because the majority of parties occur on student-rented property, police are advised to use more discretion.

“We want [officers] to spend time with students, to build better relationships,” Brennan said. “We try to give students the benefit of the doubt.”

Huff noticed the party earlier in the evening but decided at the time it was not a problem. Officers continued to monitor the house and noticed the crowd was getting bigger, the noise, louder.

The uniformed officers held back as Huff turned on the video recorder and walked slowly toward the crowd. As the police got closer to the crowd, a man approached. He stopped near a bush. He started urinating.

“There are several elements of any crime, and we want to establish those elements before charging someone,” Ames Police Lt. Rollie Link said.

Link said officers weigh many factors before issuing a nuisance party violation.

Underage drinking, breaking the city’s noise ordinance, public urination and defecation, providing alcohol to minors, and failing to disperse are a few of the factors officers look at when dealing with a party, he said.

When the police arrived at the outskirts of the crowd, partiers took notice.

Several individuals dropped their cups and left.

“What’s the camera for?” someone asked Huff.

“The cops are here,” someone else announced.

Another partier tried to explain to both officers about his being 21 and how he can continue to drink because of this, how he wanted to finish his beer before leaving, how he only lived across the street and how he was OK to walk.

The officers told him to pour out his cup.

The warm, spring weather seems to bring about the most parties, and those usually occur between Thursday and Saturday nights, Link said.

“By the time we’re called to respond to a party, it has already gotten out of hand,” he said.

“We’ll wait until we’re contacted and if the tenants cooperate, there’s a better chance we won’t charge them.”

Brennan said, traditionally, places around Hunt Street, Welch Avenue, Sterling University, Story Street and Howard Street have seen the most activity, which the department measures by how many complaints they receive for a particular location.

The crowd dispersed in a matter of minutes, but not before a few comments were made that gave the police a reason to stick around.

“This is crazy — these people aren’t even here,” an officer heard as one partygoer passed.

Duncan said he heard a female say she couldn’t leave yet because she still needed to find her 15-year-old sister. He said comments like that concern him.

“The party itself is not such a big deal,” Huff said. “It’s the vandalism, the nuisance and noise, and the sexual assaults that follow. Usually, that all starts in situations like these.”

The tap from the keg was taken off, and a friend of the property renters — who were not present — tried to call them on his cell. He left messages explaining they would be in less trouble if they came home.

“When cops show up, if people would just put their beer down and walk away, it would makes things a lot easier,” said Patrol Officer Andy Metcalfe.

He said a lot of underage drinkers he comes in contact with lie about their age and others have seen too much “Law & Order” and think they know their rights better than the police officers.

Metcalfe said he tries to give partiers more than one chance — at least four or five — to cooperate, but sometimes common sense doesn’t kick in.

“Student responses are getting better; they’re starting to understand the nuisance party ordinance and are beginning to realize that they’re not going to get arrested,” he said.

The officers discussed what they saw and decided there were enough problems with the party to charge the residents with a nuisance party violation.