Boston police officers have stepped up enforcing alcohol laws, going so far as arresting college students in areas like Mission Hill and Allston where residents have complained vigorously about noise and open container violations.
The effort is part of a larger prevention operation across the city as the Boston Police Department (BPD) puts pressure on colleges to curb underage drinking.
Jim Ferrier, associate director of Northeastern University Division of Public Safety (NUPD), on Monday told the Student Government Association (SGA) that BPD officers are on a mission to enforce alcohol laws.
“The city is on all the colleges in Boston to curb the alcohol abuse and disorderly conduct,” Ferrier said. “Boston Police this weekend, to send a message, arrested everybody they saw walking around Mission Hill with an open container of beer. They arrested them – didn’t give them a summons, didn’t give them a warning.”
BPD Officer James Kenneally said the alcohol offensive staged by the department is routine for this time of year.
“These patrols are stepped up at the start of school, and run pretty consistently through the year,” he said.
Kenneally said patrols in Mission Hill, as well as in other student-heavy parts of the city like Allston, are in response to complaints from neighborhood residents about loud parties and individuals walking around with open alcohol containers.
He did not disclose how many Northeastern students were arrested Saturday.
On Sept. 9, following the first week of classes, 15 underage Northeastern students were reported to the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution (OSCCR). Two students were caught buying alcohol for minors, and a party on Symphony Road was broken up by BPD, and charged the 20-year-old student host with distributing alcohol to underage students.
The actions taken by BPD around Northeastern mirrors a similar initiative launched earlier this month between the department and Boston University Police Department (BUPD).
BUPD Chief Thomas Robbins wrote in an email to BU students that both law enforcement agencies will “share information and collaborate with each other to assess, investigate and address outstanding and reoccurring public safety issues,” as well as “monitoring off-campus gatherings to curb binge drinking, underage drinking and other activities that are unlawful and potentially dangerous,” according to a Sept. 12 article published in The Daily Free Press.
The Daily Free Press reported BPD heightened enforcement on Gardner, Ashford and Pratt Streets in Allston, and said Brookline police will put added attention on alcohol-related violations in Dexter Park and on Freeman and Pleasant Streets.
“To college students, where folks are drinking underage or there are underage students present – it’s probably not a great idea,” Kenneally said.
