According to the Geneseo Police Department, there has been a marked increase in the number of quality of life complaints and arrests from Aug. 23 - Oct. 5 when comparing the reported figures on a year-over-year basis.
Arrests for underage drinking have more than doubled this year; complaints increased from eight in the relevant window of 2009 to 17 this year. Arrests related to open container laws increased from 16 last year to 22 this year.
Chief of Police Eric Osganian said that the start of each academic year always seems to yield a high number of complaints and arrests. In anticipation of more criminal activity, the police department sends more officers to patrol during that portion of each year.
"The first two to three weeks of school have a higher amount [of complaints and arrests] anyway," Osganian said. "This year is just higher than last."
In 2010, the total number of complaints during the stated time frame for underage drinking, possessing an open container of alcohol, disorderly conduct and loud noise violations combined totaled 55; the number of arrests in those categories totaled 37 in 2009. This year, the total number of complaints for all violations has reached 87, and the total number of arrests is at a high of 52.
The majority of these arrests relate to college students, Osganian said.Osganian added that village police officers have tried to be lenient with loud noise violations and disorderly conduct complaints by warning students so that they may mitigate the situation before an arrest is made. Although there have been 16 complaints about disorderly conduct and 27 about loud noise violations since Aug. 23, only 13 arrests have been made for the two categories combined.
Osganian said there is no doubt that these numbers are much higher than usual, but said that numbers have already started to level off and will continue to do so as the year progresses.