The New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union is considering taking action against Hanover Police's policies regarding underage drinking arrests.
NHCLU Executive Director Claire Ebel said several students have telephoned her, alleging that police violated their civil rights.
But she said she has not received a written request from an underage person to challenge Hanover Police policy, which is required before the NHCLU could take action.
A barrage of electronic mail messages circulated around campus yesterday, asking students to contact the NHCLU.
The original message, sent by Math Professor John Finn stated, "The NHCLU is definitely going for it, and making a case against the [Hanover Police Department]."
But NHCLU Executive Director Claire Ebel said Finn made "an exuberant overstatement."
Finn's message was forwarded to most of the campus by a variety of sources, including Kenji Sugahara '95, who said he sent it to the 1,900 students on his Weekend Update BlitzMail list.
Ebel said the NHCLU would like to pursue the issue but cannot do so without receiving a request from "someone who was harmed" by the policy. She said she received one request, but it came from an older Hanover resident unaffected by the policy.
Yesterday's BlitzMail message followed one sent Monday warning students that police officers were randomly giving underage students breathalyzers and arresting them if they show the "slightest" sign of having consumed alcohol.
Courtney O'Brien '96 said she sent the original BlitzMail message to Brendan Doherty '96 and Tom Caputo '96, the Class of 1996 president and vice president respectively.
"Brendan forwarded the blitz to [the 1996 Class] Council as a for-your-information thing -- nothing more," Caputo said. "And that's probably where the whole thing originated."
Most of the campus eventually received at least one copy of the message, sent to numerous mass mailing lists.
But Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaccone said the message was wrong. He said police do not randomly conduct breathalyzer tests on pedestrians.
He said police only approach students if they have a reason to suspect the student is underage and has been drinking. He said they rarely conduct breathalyzer tests on people stopped on the street and have only done so a few times when it was necessary to determine who in a group had be drinking.
Officer Steve Read said he and other officers always explain that the test is voluntary, although "maybe we don't emphasize it enough for some people."
Since the summer many students have complained that officers did not properly inform them of their rights before administering the test and charging them with internal possession.
Giaccone said the police charge people with internal possession because their interpretation of the law is that a certain blood alcohol level proves previous external possession of alcohol.
The Hanover District court supports the police's interpretation of the law, Giaccone said. It has never been appealed to a higher court.
Giaccone said the nationwide news coverage of the police's policy has been overblown. The Associated Press wrote an article based on an article in the Union Leader newspaper in Manchester. The AP article was later picked up in several newspapers, including the Boston Globe and USA Today, as well as some radio and television stations.
Alex Huppe, director of the College's news service, said stories linking Dartmouth and alcohol often make it to newspapers on "slow news days."
Huppe spoke to the Boston Globe and television stations WBZ and WLVI in Boston Sunday. He also spoke to CBS news in New York. "I point out to them that the Hanover Police is independent and they enforce the laws as they see fit."
