Arrests for alcohol- and drug-related offenses on Iowa State’s campus have risen dramatically in the last three years, and Thursday, ISU’s director of public safety gave three reasons for the increase.

The number of liquor law, operating while intoxicated, public intoxication, drug abuse and other drug violations have all risen at least 500 percent between 1994 and 1996, according to a DPS brochure titled “Safety and You.”

Director of DPS Loras Jaeger said the first reason for the sudden growth in arrests is students’ drinking patterns.

“There’s been an increase in binge drinking over the last three or four years,” he said.

Jaeger named two other causes, both relating to his department’s methods.

“We’re hiring a much different public safety officer than when I first came here [in 1990],” he said. “They have a college degree … and they tend to be more aggressive in their pursuits.”

Jaeger also said DPS has concentrated more in recent years on enforcement of alcohol regulations, which leads directly to more arrests.

“I think we have a serious alcohol abuse problem on this campus. Because of that, we’re emphasizing [alcohol regulations],” he said.

Sgt. Randy Kessel of the Ames Police Department agreed with Jaeger.

“It’s really the enforcement pattern. We are enforcing, we have been enforcing and we will continue enforcing [the ban] on underage alcohol in the bars,” he said.

“People will go elsewhere to find alcohol” if they can’t drink in the bars, causing more alcohol offenses and arrests, Kessel said.

No ISU student has ever died from alcohol poisoning, but Jaeger said the hospitalization last week of Jared Kenyon, who had a blood alcohol level of .364, was a wake-up call.

“We were very lucky last week when that young man did not die,” he said.

Jaeger did say DPS has helped hospitalize a number of students who were the victims of acute alcohol overdoses.

“If we don’t do something to control it, if we don’t work in partnership with the students, we will inevitably see death because of [alcohol abuse],” he said.

However, Jaeger said students should not worry their campus is becoming more dangerous. He cited other statistics, such as aggravated assault, simple assault and five different categories of theft, which have shown no increase or a decrease in the last three years.

Alcohol is “the essence of the problem on this campus,” Jaeger said.

During Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week at ISU this week, Jaeger said he will take part in a panel discussion Tuesday in the Memorial Union. The event will focus on “attitudes, practices and problems” relating to alcohol, he said, and will include time for the public to ask questions.

Jaeger said DPS also participates in a joint drug task force with the Story County Sheriff’s Department and the Ames Police Department.

“We’re putting a lot of resources into keeping the sale and distribution of drugs off-campus,” he said.

In the end, Jaeger said, the control of alcohol abuse will require a three-pronged effort.

“It’s a coordination of education, prevention and enforcement,” he said.

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Campus Crime Stats

Listed below is data for crimes reported to Department of Public Safety for the past three years.

Numbers in parentheses represent crimes reported to the Ames Police Department that occurred at buildings or on property located off-campus but owned or controlled by university-recognized student organizations.

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Offenses 1996 1995 1994
Drug violations 57 22 7
Liquor law violations 226(15) 115(7) 33(4)
(excluding OWI)
Operating while intoxicated 143(1) 40 5
Public intoxication 156 70(10) 29(4)
Drug abuse violations 84 21(1) 6(1)