A student services email sent Friday cautioned Shippensburg University students of increased police patrols around campus and the surrounding area. Officers on horses rode through Shippensburg Friday night and policed “looking for issues,” the email warned, signed Student Association President Luke Perry.
Everyone knows with homecoming comes an increase in parties, but was the police officials’ enforcement too much, or was it necessary? It seemed that officers used scare tactics to keep partiers in line.
Officer Robert Wenerd of the SU Police Department said that the sheriff’s department assisted with prisoner transport and state police added patrols this past weekend.
With the large number of people attending events on campus, “officers stayed busy,” Wenerd said. All officers from the SU Police Department worked 16-hour shifts, and were in full force from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. on homecoming weekend.
Across from the corner of Richard Avenue, I witnessed five horsemen in a group as they turned the bend to Queen Street. I watched from Polly and Stone’s Burrito Truck where I work on Friday nights from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.; this past weekends’ crowd was a little larger than usual.
Police were posted everywhere on my drive to and from work. Naturally, at SU Raiders’ homecoming football game Saturday, campus police were in attendance ready to solve any issues that may have risen.
Officers monitored tailgating well. Other activities also required police attention, Wenerd said. H. Ric Luhrs Performing Art Center presented a show, while DJ Diamond Kuts performed at the Ceddia Union Building.
The CUB event kept officers busy and there were arrests and ambulance transports, Wenerd said. Staff and police scanned I.D.s for entrance into the event in the effort to keep minors out of trouble. “People were sent to the hospital for alcohol overdose — more than a normal weekend,” he said.
I asked about the past weekend’s crime reports, but no one from the police department could comment before the time of press.
As for the many police patrols this weekend, this student will not complain. The campus did not receive any SU Alerts.
I felt safe to enjoy myself. People complain about the police force at SU, but those are the people most likely not doing the right thing.
The police are here to help, and like a bumblebee, if you do not bother them, they will not bother you.
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