1. So, where you from?
Oct. 24
At 11:39 p.m., an officer arrived at the Putnam Hall lobby for a possible detox case.

He talked to a man on the couch whose eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and it appeared he had vomit covering his shirt.

The officer asked him how much alcohol he had drunk, and the man told him he consumed just a little.

Next, the officer asked him for identification. The man reached in his pocket and handed him a lighter. The officer again asked him for his ID, and the man pointed to his lighter and said that was his ID.

His speech was extremely slurred, and he had problems maintaining his balance while sitting upright.

Another officer arrived. The man told the second officer that his birthday was “2/13/87” and that his permanent address was in Minnesota.

The other officer then attempted to identify him. The man said his birthday was “2/12/87” and that his permanent address was Madison. He could not spell his name correctly or give his residence hall room number.

The officers attempted to gather information about him three to four times, and they received different information each time.

The officers obtained a 0.17 reading from a preliminary breath test, despite an extremely fast and weak sample.

The hall director said the man somehow opened a door to a room in Putnam and vomited in the middle of it. He then walked on his own to the lobby.

The man was transported to detox and issued a ticket for underage drinking, first offense.

2. Men in black
Oct. 23
An officer spoke with a campus custodian, who asked the department to watch a group that gathers in the area between Davies Center and Schofield Hall.

The custodian said she sees the group every Saturday at about 9 p.m. when McIntyre Library closes. The group consists of five to seven people who dress in black.

The group has one distinct “leader” who tells others what to do. She often hears the group talk about killing people within the group if they do not do what it wants.

She added it uses inappropriate language and is sometimes so loud, it can be heard from a block away.

3. Do you know your ABC’s?
Nov. 2
Around 2:15 a.m., an officer noticed a Volkswagen driving in the middle of the road on the 100 block of Chippewa Street. The vehicle drifted over to the left side and then swerved back on the right side of the road.

While turning right onto First Avenue, the officer noticed the car’s license plate lamp was out. The driver turned left onto Water Street. After the car crossed the Water Street bridge, the officer flashed on his lights.

The driver did not stop until the intersection of State Street and Gilbert Avenue. When asked for his driver’s license, the driver gave the officer his passport, saying he lost his license. The man also had other passengers in his vehicle. The officer asked him why he had been driving on the wrong side of the road back on Chippewa Street, and the man replied because he was changing lanes.

The officer told him there was no lane to change to. When asked again, the man said he didn’t know why he was driving on the wrong side. The officer could smell alcohol coming from the man. He asked the man how much he had to drink that night. The man replied he had two beers and two shots.

He told the officer that his last drink was at midnight and he had started drinking at 8 p.m. He said he was driving to his friend’s house, but he did not know what street it was on.

The officer then had the man perform several field tests, one of which was reciting the alphabet. He recited the alphabet correctly from A through W, then ended with R, I, V, Z.

He took two more tests, struggling with each, losing his balance and not following directions properly.

His preliminary breath test reading was a 0.14. The officer arrested the man and another officer came to help drive the passengers of the car home.

While the officer filed the paperwork, the man asked him to roll down the window so he could throw up. The officer let the man out of the car and he began vomiting on the ground.

After a blood sample was taken, the man told the officer he had drunk eight beers and two shots, and that he actually had started drinking at 7 p.m. and finished 15 minutes prior to pulling over. He was taken to jail and given a ticket for operating under the influence.

4. Nachos el ‘grand theft‚?’
Nov. 5
At 4:30 p.m., an officer went to Hilltop Center to investigate a possible retail theft at the food court.

He made contact with a supervisor, who was looking at the surveillance tape and said the man in question was involved in a similar incident the previous day.

He said the man put nachos in his pocket and left without paying for them. They were not able to identify him with the amount of traffic in the food court, but narrowed his identity to two names because he purchased other items. The supervisor made a copy of the surveillance tape for the police department.

At about 4:15 p.m. that day, the same man approached the cash register with a Taco Bell quesadilla and a soda. He said he forgot his Blugold Card, and would return with it. He left the food, returned with his card and paid.

The woman working at the register spoke with a Taco Bell employee, who asked if he had paid for his nachos. She said she saw him put them in his pocket the day before as well. The nachos were not part of a meal package.

The Taco Bell employee went to the register and to the cashier to identify the man. She then watched him closely as he went to pay and did not see him take the nachos out of his pocket.

The officer obtained written statements and contacted the man about the nachos.

The man said something to the effect of “Oh my gosh.” He said he put the nachos in his pocket and forgot to take them out and that it was the first time he had done so. The officer asked why he hadn’t returned them and the man said he would do it now.

The officer told him it was not necessary now, and it was the second time he had done it to his knowledge and he had witnesses and video to prove it.

The man said nothing in reply. He was issued a $279 ticket for retail theft.

5. Access denied
Sept. 25
An officer went to Katharine Thomas Hall to investigate a marijuana report.

As he approached the room in question, he could smell no odor, but he overheard a conversation among three people. A man said something about “smelling up the room,” and a woman said she had grown plants but had to throw them away after they got too big.

The man said he had once grown plants as well, but his mother told him, “You proved your point, now get rid of them.” He went on to say he had eaten the plants, including the roots.

The officer identified all three involved in the conversation and found the man was a resident of the room. The officer told them he had heard their conversation about growing plants. The man replied, “Is it a crime to talk about it?” The officer said no, but it the act of growing the plants is.

The man said he did it in the past, not on campus and was not growing anymore. The officer asked if there were any drugs in the room, and the group said there were not.

The officer then observed a small, dark-colored pouch in plain view. It had a zipper on one end and was padded. With his training and past experience, the officer recognized the pouch might contain a glass pipe commonly used to smoke marijuana.

The officer asked if he could verify the man’s claims that there were no drugs in the room, but the man denied permission. The officer asked why he wouldn’t cooperate, and the man said he didn’t have to.

The officer then asked what was in the pouch. The man picked it up and said, “personal things.” The officer asked what he meant by “personal things,” and the man repeated, “personal things.”

The officer asked him to open it, but the man put it back on his desk and said no. The officer asked if it contained a pipe. The man again said no.

The officer said he believed the pouch contained evidence of drugs, and the man shrugged his shoulders.

The officer said he would give the man one more opportunity to cooperate and asked again if he could check the pouch, but the man, once more, refused to grant permission.

The officer told the man that living in the residence halls and attending the university was a privilege, not a right, and his lack of cooperation would be documented in the report. The man shrugged his shoulders.