The Eugene Police Department may have no choice but to increase its patrol of parties — that is, if the number of minor-in-possession citations and party complaints continue at such a high rate, said EPD Sgt. Rob Olson.
“There has been a continuing problem with EPD having to issue MIPs and respond to party calls,” said Olson, who is one of the officers who works in conjunction with the University Department of Public Safety. “If our management sees a need, then we could possibly be reinstating party patrol.”
The original Party Patrol ended in March because of budget problems, said EPD Lt. Carolyn Mcdermed, who was a night commander for Party Patrol. She said it was too expensive to have extra officers whose primary duty was to respond to parties.
EPD spokeswoman Pam Alejandre said assigning officers to patrol parties will not be a reinstatement of the old party patrol system, but will instead be a completely new system.
If officers are once again designated to patrol parties, there will be a more balanced work schedule that will eliminate the problem of paying the officers overtime, Mcdermed said.
“(Party Patrol) worked great,” she said. “When we could respond with enough officers, it made the situation safer for everyone. We could take the time to make sure the people at the party weren’t put into vulnerable situations or weren’t driving home drunk.”
Eugene’s special response fee, which requires the host of a party to pay for fees incurred by EPD while responding to that party, has still been in effect despite the loss of Party Patrol, Olson said.
“There has been the misunderstanding that because Party Patrol went away, enforcement also went away,” he said. “But we still respond to calls and still take action. I know of at least one instance this fall where a response fee was issued.”
Alejandre said 18 MIPs have been issued and 27 loud parties required response between Sept. 24 and Oct. 7. All the incidents involved people of college age or University students.
“It’s not all happening in the West University neighborhood, either,” Mcdermed said. “We’ve seen this all over the city, especially in more densely populated areas.”
The parties police are currently responding to are not necessarily large, Olson said, but they can easily get large and out of hand.
“Parties are usually fairly small, but our problems are with people in the street drinking, fights, breaking glass and the loudness,” Olson said.
And Mcdermed said the larger these parties get, the harder it is to control them.
“It’s so easy to let these things get big,” Mcdermed said. “People can’t be afraid to call on their own parties if they get out of control.”
If the host of a party calls EPD for help with an out-of-control situation, the host will not be charged a special response fee, she said.
“We want students to enjoy their experience, but there are legal restrictions and some common sense restrictions that everyone needs to understand,” Olson said.