At the end of finals week in May, students were celebrating at the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity house when there was a knock at the door. A group of police officers stood outside and asked to come in, handing out several citations to underage students inside who had been drinking alcohol illegally.
The incident is just one example of the monthly operations of the Alameda County Vice Enforcement Team — a newly formed county-wide vice team founded and coordinated by Detective Ryan Cantrell of the Hayward Police Department. Following the incident, some students have expressed concerned about police officers from outside the city of Berkeley potentially policing activities around the UC Berkeley campus.
Although the team handed out citations at the fraternity party in May, Cantrell said fraternity parties are “not something (they) are cracking down on” and they “haven’t been asked to target that specifically.” The students who were given citations will have to appear in court, possibly facing fines or community service.
ASUC External Affairs Vice President Shahryar Abbasi said he would caution the police not to use the team for enforcement around the campus.
“I think, in general, the team might be effective in other areas. However, I don’t know about it in the city of Berkeley,” Abbasi said. “I don’t think it is wise for people who don’t understand the student climate to be controlling our city, frankly.”
According to Cantrell, the team decided to saturate the area, as well as several other areas in the county, in the operation because the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control has found a high number of people with open containers and public intoxication in the area.
“The reason for the visit to this fraternity was that the officers observed what appeared to be an intoxicated male by his speech and actions, who was on top of the roof of the fraternity and yelling,” Cantrell said in an email. “They then observed what appeared to be two minor females (under 21 years), crawl out through a window onto the roof and had beverages in their hands (red cups) to join him. Based on their actions, the officers suspected that she might be intoxicated, so they investigated for safety reasons.”
The team had contacted several other intoxicated people in the area, made several arrests and issued citations.
The squad includes several local, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies and is open to all law enforcement agencies in the county. Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Officer Jennifer Coats said police officers throughout the state of California have powers throughout the state and can enforce laws in other jurisdictions.
“This isn’t something new this year,” Coats said. “We have participated in this type of coordination and effort with multiple agencies involved in the last few years and it’s not unusual for another agency to work part of our area and vice versa.”
The team was founded in January and began operations which focus on human trafficking, child exploitation, prostitution, alcohol, tobacco and gambling-related crimes in February.
“I can’t say that I enjoy the idea of police coming into parties to hand out citations … I would hope that the majority of (the team’s) efforts are geared towards stopping human trafficking since that would seem to me to be the most damaging,” said Interfraternity Council President David Blanchard.
Blanchard said the best course of action for fraternity members and guests on their property is to follow the law as best they can, which he believes they are already doing. He also said he believes the joint task force needs to have strict guidelines stipulating what gives them the right to enter private property and fraternities.
According to IFC External Affairs Vice President Oren Friedman, the council is pushing for more collaboration and harmony with city officials and the police. He said he hopes the formation of a Greek student-city task force can help improve relations in the future.
Staff writer Shirin Ghaffary contributed to this report.
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The right thing to do here is stop the alcohol enforcement and treat alcohol poisoning as a casualty issue, not as a LE issue.
As one of the girls on the roof, let me make one thing clear: It was the Friday night that finals were over, sorry I’m not sorry for partying.
Sharyar and his buddies should moderate their drinking, and the cops should address the murders and sex trafficking around here
What a bunch of geeds. police are hipsters GET OUT
yeah bro , fucking GDIs mess up this university.
Oakland, and all of legitimately dangerous crime it houses, is literally 20 minutes away, and the police are using their resources to stop college kids from drinking. College kids get drunk and obnoxious sometimes, but shouldn’t the police be worrying about things that actually pose a threat to society?
Did the Police have a search warrant. If they did not, then there is no requirement to allow them to enter.
Fourth Amendment – Search and Seizure
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place
to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment04/
As if Berkeley PD has jurisdiction in Oakland. That aside, here’s a thought: even when you think a law is stupid, but then you don’t break the law. You take action to change it. If the ASUC EAVP thinks it’s so bad that people cannot legally drink until they’re 21, why doesn’t he lobby to bring it down?
“A group of police officers stood outside and asked to come in,…”
If it’s private property, can’t the response be “No, not without a warrant” .? Are fraternity/sorority houses private property?
The police were being polite, they had probable cause!
Blanchard said the best course of action for fraternity members and guests on their property is to follow the law as best they can, which he believes they are already doing.
This statement clearly shows otherwise.
Abbasi said. “I don’t think it is wise for people who don’t understand the student climate to be controlling our city, frankly.”
This statement and many others in this article, clearly shows how out of touch UC is. Allowing dangerous underage drinking and climbing onto roofs of frats while intoxicated, only increases risks to students and their neighbors.
It has long been known that UC, Berkeley police and local and national fraternal organization have ignored a growing problem in Berkeley. How many students need to fall off roofs before the adults realize they hav a problem.
If Berkeley police will not do their jobs, at least one law enforcement unit will.
I see the article and commentors focusing on the fraternities, but they are just a reflection of the rest of the student population. I can go to any dorm or other student housing and find the same thing. Once the police start walking into apartments or regular houses, I bet the students below will start complaining about their privacy rights.
The police won’t go into your house unless you’re so loud and obnoxious that it becomes a public disturbance… like that drunk guy on the roof.
Every week I see similar loud and obnoxious actions from students in the dorms and in rented houses. There isn’t really much difference between the social activities of the fraternities and the rest of the students. Though I won’t condemn the students not living outside of the greek system, because they are always kind enough to invite me to their parties.
Anyone who thinks underage drinking is in control is an idiot. Either change the law, or bust parties every friday on Frat row.
If these GDIs try to bust up my frat i’ll haze the fuck out of them
Cops ain’t got no shit on frats, we rule berkeley.
down with the police and down with GDIs
Everyone knows the sororities have the frat boys by the short hairs.
No bro , we only date girls in top tier sororities , lower houses and GDIs are merely slam pieces
Howie is a GDI
berkeley = NF.
Let’s focus on the human trafficking, child exploitation, and prostitution please.
The law doesn’t work like that. Lesser crimes involve lesser sanctions, but the laws should still be enforced. In the real world, do you think you can tell the police that arrested you for burning a red light to focus on the people who are speeding on the highway?
”
ASUC External Affairs Vice President Shahryar Abbasi said he would caution the police not to use the team for enforcement around the campus.” Really, Shahryar? What if an intoxicated student drives their car and causes an accident? No matter how you feel about the law, you’re not above it just because you attend Berkeley and/or you’re in a frat.
He was referring to this particular team of officers. UC Berkeley and Berkeley City PD should be the ones doing this kind of thing. Not a countywide squad targeting human trafficking.
But what if UC police and Berkeley police fail to do their jobs! Then what.
I’m surprised that the police don’t enforce the law as frequently as it is broken. Seriously, go to frat row every Friday for a week straight, and snap up several hundred underage drinkers. There’s plenty of “probable cause” for you to use…hell, I can call you up whenever I know anyone who’s going over there to get wasted. It’s the law, so why do they let it go broken? They sure don’t for protestors and the like…and they aren’t as much of a danger to others or themselves as some drunk frat kid :P