Police see alcohol violations increase on campus

By: Jack Willems

Posted: 11/7/08

The UA Police Department has arrested more people for public intoxication this year already than all of last year, and it has arrested more than twice the amount of people for drunk driving, police records show.

This year, the UAPD has made 125 arrests for driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated, UAPD Captain Katheryn Huddler said. Last year, the UAPD made 50 arrests for the same offenses, according to the 2007 Cleary Report.

The UAPD has made 121 arrests for public intoxication this year compared to 119 arrests for public intoxication made last year, according to police records.

Huddler could not explain the increase in DWI/DUI arrests, she said, but the fact that a state highway goes through campus means not all arrests are of students.

Of the DWI/DUI arrests, 58 have been of people not affiliated with the university, she said. Of the public intoxication arrests, 46 have been of people not affiliated with the university.

Public drinking is prohibited in Arkansas state law, though there is no specific prohibition against open containers, Huddler said. Arkansas Code states that the crime of drinking in public is committed if a person drinks in any public place that is not a business licensed to sell alcohol, including highways, streets, passenger coaches, vehicles streetcars or train depots.

It is illegal to drink in a car because that is considered to be a public place, Huddler said, and these rules also apply to the passenger.

Having an open container of alcohol in a car is not illegal, but it may inspire officers to ask questions.

"If an officer sees an open container, he may ask," Huddler said.

In Oklahoma, previously opened bottles of alcohol must be transported in the trunk where it is not accessible to the passengers or driver, according to www.alcohollaws.org. The law is the same in Lousiana and Texas, according to the Web site.

In Missouri and Mississippi, both the driver and passenger may drink so long as the driver is not above the legal limit, according to the Web site. In Tennessee, passengers, but not drivers, are allowed to drink.

UA students have different rules for drinking in public.

Mollie Dougan, a junior majoring in agricultural law, does drink as a passenger in a car, she said. She knows it is illegal, but when she drinks it is usually for fun and she said she does not think about it then.

Nicole Collins, a freshman majoring in architecture, believes that it should be illegal to have an open container in a car regardless of whether someone is actively drinking it.

Sean Leach, a senior journalism major, knows that drinking is not allowed in public places outside bars, but sees many people drinking in their front lawn on certain Saturdays, he said.

"Apparently the law becomes lax at home football games," Leach said.