Ames Police officers met with members of the greek community to inform residents about laws and police duties in order to cut down on the number of complaints and violations in that area. Four officers spoke to a crowd of about 100 members of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and Gamma Phi Beta sorority Thursday at the Alpha Gamma Rho house, 201 Gray Ave. The officers addressed minor noise violations and serious crimes, such as rape and assault. “The reason we are here is to keep the complaints down,” said Cpl. Geoff Huff of the Ames Police Department. Huff, who spoke about the city’s sound ordinance and nuisance-party violations, told the crowd that police officers “have better things to do than write out a bunch of tickets.” Huff said the sound ordinance permits parties to be as loud as 60 decibels before midnight. After that, he said, it reduces to 55 decibels. This “nuisance party” ordinance was set up after members of one Ames neighborhood met with the city council about their concerns with loud and uncontrolled parties. The purpose of the violations is to hold the person in charge of the party responsible for what goes on at the property, Huff said. If a renter gets three violations, the owner or landlord is cited. The person cited with a violation is charged with a civil penalty, which is not considered a criminal act, he said. The property owner can be issued a violation for a party member’s act. Nuisances include fighting, loud noise, public urination, littering, parking or traffic violations and any alcohol violation. Huff recommended designating a person to control the party and watch everything going on. He said officers don’t randomly test people for intoxication. Instead, they notice people who are under the influence and doing something out of the ordinary. The penalty for public intoxication is a fine up to $500 or up to 30 days in jail, he said. Officer Jen Jones talked about sexual assault and its correlation to alcohol. “The majority of sexual assaults [in Ames] are among students,” Jones said. She explained that 80 percent of sexual assaults are committed by people who the victim knows. “Unfortunately, alcohol plays a big role in most sexual assaults,” she said. Jones recommended several tips to avoid sexual assault, including drinking less or not at all, keeping an eye on your drink, going out with people who care about you and telling them where you are going and with whom. Officer Dave Schultz spoke on operating while intoxicated (OWI) violations, which can be issued to people caught with a blood-alcohol level of .10 in a motor vehicle. “If a person is in their car in their own driveway they can be charged with OWI,” he said. Shultz also mentioned Iowa’s zero-tolerance law. According to the law, a person under 21 who is operating a motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol level as low as .02 can be charged with a violation, which is not a criminal offense. If the blood-alcohol level is .10, the charge becomes OWI, a criminal offense. When it comes to being pulled over, Schultz said he recommends several things. “If stopped, number one, slow down immediately, pull over to the right and stop,” he said. He also recommended staying in the car, turning on the dome light, keeping hands in the officer’s view and being courteous and polite.