Spring Break
North Campus: 'The Jungle' finally gets tamed
Matthew Monks
Issue date: 12/4/01 Section: News
"An officer or two would spend a lot of time here every weekend," she said.
Since she started the job, she said, arrests have gone up and property damage from vandalism has gone down.
She estimates making an average of two or three arrests a weekend, mostly for vandalism. Most of the students she arrests are not even residents of North. Non-students and students who live in other dorms are drawn to North because of its reputation.
"You get people walking around randomly, looking for the party because this is the Jungle," she said. To reduce problems caused by non-residents, she continually reminds residents they are responsible for people they let into the building.
According to UConn Police Maj. Ronald Blicher, the police department may deal differently with students and non-students committing offenses in the dorms. Non-students are more likely to get arrested because they do not have the option of being disciplined through DRL, he said. For students, an arresting officer has the option of arresting them or referring them to DRL, especially for minor offenses like vandalism and underage drinking.
Booker said she has three options when she catches underage students with alcohol: She can make them pour it out; she can refer them to DRL; or she can arrest them. When she first started at North, she was lenient, she said, and would make most students just pour out their alcohol without an arrest. But now that they are used to her presence, she is cracking down, she said.
"The word is out," she said. " This community police thing is here ... I can count on my hand the times I made them pour it out this semester. I'm not tolerating it anymore."
Vandalism accounted for nearly half of all the reported incidents at North, 97 of 212 cases over two years, the police logs show. The most common vandalism has been the destruction of ceiling tiles, bathroom sinks and outside doors.
Booker blames most of it on alcohol.
Since she started the job, she said, arrests have gone up and property damage from vandalism has gone down.
She estimates making an average of two or three arrests a weekend, mostly for vandalism. Most of the students she arrests are not even residents of North. Non-students and students who live in other dorms are drawn to North because of its reputation.
"You get people walking around randomly, looking for the party because this is the Jungle," she said. To reduce problems caused by non-residents, she continually reminds residents they are responsible for people they let into the building.
According to UConn Police Maj. Ronald Blicher, the police department may deal differently with students and non-students committing offenses in the dorms. Non-students are more likely to get arrested because they do not have the option of being disciplined through DRL, he said. For students, an arresting officer has the option of arresting them or referring them to DRL, especially for minor offenses like vandalism and underage drinking.
Booker said she has three options when she catches underage students with alcohol: She can make them pour it out; she can refer them to DRL; or she can arrest them. When she first started at North, she was lenient, she said, and would make most students just pour out their alcohol without an arrest. But now that they are used to her presence, she is cracking down, she said.
"The word is out," she said. " This community police thing is here ... I can count on my hand the times I made them pour it out this semester. I'm not tolerating it anymore."
Vandalism accounted for nearly half of all the reported incidents at North, 97 of 212 cases over two years, the police logs show. The most common vandalism has been the destruction of ceiling tiles, bathroom sinks and outside doors.
Booker blames most of it on alcohol.