09-15-10 (CCAC) Community/Campus Advisory Coalition

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Community/Campus Advisory Coalition (CCAC) September 15, 2010 Meeting Minutes Page 3 Captain Hammer said that officers were not targeting student parties, but rather were responding to neighborhood complaints about loud parties. He said officers use discretion on whether to ticket or arrest. Prosecutor Mike Dvorak said that perhaps officers could have issued more tickets and arrested fewer students, but it was important to note that underage drinking is a crime. Students receiving a ticket may mistakenly believe that a ticket is for an infraction. He said that in the case of underage drinking, a ticket is a promise to appear before a judge and is just as serious as being arrested. He said many students don't realize that a conviction for underage drinking (which is a crime) will close many doors for graduate school and jobs. As an example, he said that someone convicted of underage drinking would probably not be able to get a job as a fast food manager, because it is a crime and they could not be bonded because of it. Mr. Dvorak said the Prosecutor's office very often uses a pretrial diversion program for first time offenders, and, if completed successfully, the charge is expunged. He said that the Prosecutor's Office is not so generous to second and third time offenders. The pretrial diversion program carries with it costs of $320.00 and 20 hours of community service. Tim Sexton said that in addition to that, Notre Dame students receive internal discipline, are required to do 15 more hours of community service and their parents are notified. Mr. Dvorak noted that since the arrests by Excise Police and South Bend Police and the ensuing discussions, he has seen a shift to fewer arrests and more tickets being issued. It was also noted that a couple of complaints were lodged by students about police officers acting inappropriately. Those complaints are being investigated by Internal Affairs. Ann Puzzello commented that some neighborhood residents thought it was good that the police acted swiftly. Neighborhoods don't want to deal with loud parties. Underage drinking is something we want taken care of. While some neighborhood representatives thought things were better, Ann-Carol Nash said that the recent problems led her to think otherwise. It has been necessary for her to send out more abate letters than usual. Mike Carrington said that discretion is the key in dealing with underage drinking. Things started off differently this year with more arrests of students than tickets being issued, but through dialog between police and schools, that problem is being corrected. Mr. Carrington said that when he first came to CCAC he was skeptical that the Coalition would be able to accomplish much, but he has been impressed with what has been accomplished over the last few years.