Students vs. cops: Can’t we all just get along?

City officials attributed the lack of arrests at Oaktoberfest and Falmer Fest two weekends ago to successful off-campus outreach efforts this year. However, reports of confrontations between police officers and students have also been coming in.

At a party on Stewart Street Oct. 9, some of those in attendance reported that mounted police officers pinned one or more partygoers against trees with their horses, riding the horses through the party, flipping over and breaking tables, taking a tap from the keg, and using profanity while making threats to gas the crowd. Outside of that incident, others have reported being bucked and pinned by the horses of mounted police officers.

On the other side, groups of students have reportedly broken out into profane anti-police chants, as well as other antagonistic behavior. Though the tensions have yet to exacerbate into bottle-throwing or street fires, matters did escalate to that point last spring during Palmer Fest and other block parties.

Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl said Wednesday that he has heard and read about these incidents. His understanding of the incident on Stewart Street, he added, was that officers could not find any residents who would take responsibility for the party.

"When nobody took responsibility for having the party, then that's a de facto reason to close the party down," he said.

Wiehl pointed out that the two planned parties went fairly well, considering last spring's parties on the same streets - Oak and Palmer- were both marked by confrontations between students and officers as well as fires in the streets.

"What that tells me is that the (Stewart Street) party was not planned; there was nobody responsible; and it obviously did not go as well," he said.

Wiehl said up to the point where fires are started in the streets, the APD is generally laid-back.

"When you start setting fires and start doing something that is obviously illegal or dangerous, at that point we make decisions that we have to stop it," he said. "The more proactive, or aggressive stance, is that we have to step up."

He said police officers may be more confrontational, but it's because they have to get ahead of the curve to prevent any major disturbances. He advised students to disperse when officers ask them to do so.

"To try to explain individually to each person why they have to clear the street takes time," the mayor said. "Some of them might be more impaired than others. To do an explanation for each one is not legitimate. If an officer tells you to break up a party and leave, he shouldn't have to explain it to each of the 150 people there."

When talking to officers, Wiehl said, if a citizen minds his or her manners that individual usually gets the same back. With regard to the overall atmosphere between students and police in Athens, Wiehl said he doesn't want to see it deteriorate into confrontation and mutual disrespect.

"My mindset of what the police and community should be doing (is) having an ongoing dialogue, and we should be considerate of each other," he said. "The things that get away from that is occasionally there is alcohol involved, and occasionally there's the idea that you should be confronting 'the man.'"

Wiehl said that all the parties involved are residents of the city, whether short-term or long-term, and he'd rather keep the relationship non-confrontational.

BRAD EVANS, OFF-CAMPUS LIFE commissioner for OU Student Senate, said Wednesday that he's pleased with the results of outreach efforts on Oak Street and Palmer Street in anticipation of the fall parties.

With regard to Stewart Street, he suggested that students may embellish the story a bit.

"I don't know if part of it was true, or all of it was true, but I was taken aback after reading about some of the behavior of Athens Police," he said. "If that's true, then maybe some people of Student Senate and some community members need to sit down with the APD again and see if there's an issue."

Evans said that Student Senate already held talks with the APD earlier this school year to talk about the marked increased in noise citations and other issues.

"I definitely think more dialogue (is needed)," he said. "If students' only interaction with police is a negative one, then they're not going to be speaking highly of police and they're not going to know how difficult it can be for them to do their job."

If students are writing to newspapers, he said, that shows an effort to have more dialogue, and that effort needs to be matched by the Police Department.

Athens Police Chief Richard Mayer said Friday that he thinks the department's efforts to get the word out about its crackdown on noise have been successful.

"I've seen letters from long-term residents saying that they're pleased at the way things are calming down at night when they're trying to get rest," he said.

With regard to what officers are reporting about confrontations and antagonism from students, Mayer said any time an officer has to take enforcement action against someone, that person has the potential to react badly.

"That person is not going to be pleased," he said. "That's part of the work we do."

As for what advice he would give, he suggested that it's important for residents of a house hosting a party to come forward.

"A lot of times, no residents want to present themselves because they're worried they're going to get a ticket or something like that," he said. "And then officers just have to clear everybody out."

Mayer was also asked about incidents where just one resident of a given household has been given a citation for a violation because that person answered the door, while the other housemates remain unaccountable.

"Normally we cite one or more of the residents at the house," he said. "If one citation works, why go and cite everybody? The next time it might be somebody else at the house. Normally it's just one citation per house and whatever resident is there gets the citation."