Although Hanover Police records show that the number of Dartmouth students arrested for alcohol-related offenses has increased since 2007, the data does not include information on whether or not consumption, as opposed to mere possession, has increased.
Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone announced the department's intent to launch sting operations targeting campus Greek organizations in a Feb. 4 meeting with Greek presidents and advisors. Giaccone advised attendees at the meeting that the policy was designed to "reduc[e] unsafe drinking," in light of a perceived increase in the number of students who were arrested in a state of dangerous intoxication.
Plans to implement these compliance checks have since been put on hold.
In interviews with The Dartmouth, Giaccone cited an increase in the number of arrests for underage possession of alcohol as the primary motivation for the department's sting operation policy.
"The numbers justify our reaction," Giaccone said at the Feb. 4 meeting.
Hanover Police arrested 112 people, including 63 Dartmouth students, for unlawful possession in 2007, Giaccone told The Dartmouth. In 2008, Hanover Police made 130 arrests for possession, 76 of which were of Dartmouth students. In 2009, the department charged a total of 163 people for unlawful possession, including 126 Dartmouth students.
Hanover Police considered these numbers in making its decision to launch the sting operation policy, Giaccone said in a Feb. 17 interview.
The increase in the number of students who have been arrested for possession may not, however, reflect an increase in arrests of intoxicated students. In its internal records, Hanover Police does not distinguish between arrests for underage alcohol violations that were made on the basis of intoxication and those that involved a minor having physical control of one or more containers of alcohol, according to Giaccone.
"There's no way to tell, not without going through each and every case," Giaccone told The Dartmouth in an interview on Feb. 25, adding that Hanover Police has not performed such an analysis.
Under New Hampshire law, persons under 21 who have consumed alcohol can be charged with illegal possession.
Due to this statutory definition of possession, any person under 21 who is either in physical control of a container of alcohol or who is intoxicated by consumption of an alcoholic beverage is guilty of "a violation," according to Chapter 179, Section 10 of the New Hampshire legal code.
Although Giaccone told The Dartmouth in a Feb. 4 interview that 75 students had been arrested for alcohol-related incidents since September 2009, he clarified in a Feb. 17 interview that this figure actually referred to the number of arrested Dartmouth students who were eligible for the Diversions program in 2009. This number has since been updated to 79, Giaccone said, explaining that the records were updated to include those students who completed the Diversions program in 2010, but were arrested in 2009.
Staff writer Marina Villeneuve contributed to the reporting of this article.
