Well that was quite the interesting weekend to say the least. Alcohol, football and nice weather, can't ask for much more. Friday night my roommates and I had a few people over. Nothing big, just a few friends to test out the apartment for future parties and stuff. After people started to leave I get a call. It was from one of my friends who had left and he explained that as he passed by the Whittemore Center there were about 7 or 8 cop cars lined up with a car pulled over and several people standing in line. He didn't want to get in the way of anything going on so he crossed to the other side of Main Street. As he got closer a cop also crossed the street and approached him. The cop stopped him, asked him to touch his nose and after my friend successfully managed to do that he was told to continue on. It appeared that these cops were giving field sobriety tests to students and pedestrians walking by. Now, I'm not an expert, but shouldn't the police be encouraging people to walk when they have been out drinking? Anyways, this whole fiasco ended soon because another friend walked by there about a half-hour later and there was nobody there.
I was just wondering if anyone else encountered this and what people's thoughts are on cops giving sobriety tests to pedestrians? From what I have gathered this "check-point" wasn't around for more than an hour or two so I am guessing it either wasn't working or the cops realized how idiotic it was. Hopefully this was just a first-Friday-of-the-school-year intimidation thing and we won't see anymore of it, because the only way these cops could get anyone in trouble through this would be for underaged drinking. Anyone walking back from the bars or a party who is of age is doing the right thing by walking. It would be another thing if these checkpoints were set up for cars, but not a lot of people drive around on campus at night, since it is so compact.
Having 7 or 8 cops in the same area is also idiotic, they should be spread out all over campus to help prevent crime, assaults or maybe even robberies. What is more important, catching drunk kids walking home or preventing a crime where someone's well-being could be at stake? I understand that the cops can't be everywhere, but it would help be a step in the right direction.
Stay classy, not UMassy.
Having 7 or 8 cops in the same area is also idiotic, they should be spread out all over campus to help prevent crime, assaults or maybe even robberies. What is more important, catching drunk kids walking home or preventing a crime where someone's well-being could be at stake? I understand that the cops can't be everywhere, but it would help be a step in the right direction.
Stay classy, not UMassy.
DKFNY?
ReplyDeletei saw walking back to gables friday night. i didn't see many people get pulled over but one car was being questioned by cops tho.
ReplyDeleteyeah, I heard about this from a friend who was made to walk a straight line. they were only there for a little while, seems lame to me. I think it was around 1 or 2 sat morning, not 2 sure tho
ReplyDeletei was walking with a group of people by the whit when i saw them. we thought it was a car accident
ReplyDeletehahhaha so it is true. my roommate had to walk the line.
ReplyDeletelol good job UNH cops,
ReplyDeletemaybe had they spread out, they would have caught that robbery that happened
this is the most absurd thing i heard about this past weekend. Really??? 8 cop cars in one area, this is straight power trippin' by the cops
ReplyDeletesounds like a traffic stop that turned into something bigger than it was suppose to be.....
ReplyDeletehear this from my neighbor, he had to walk a line though, thought this was funny when i read it hahaha
ReplyDeleteRidiculous. Keep the drunks off the roads, not off the sidewalk! The only time they need to be concerned with the walking drunks is incidences of violence or outright dangerous behavior. Don't scare kids off, keep the police force in as positive light as possible. This just encourages behavior like what we saw a lot last year, with people seeing assaults happening and not reporting it. If the police want us to respect and trust them then they need to start earning that trust.
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