Western Herald File
The WMU Department of Public Safety released their annual security and fire safety report yesterday, with the information that officers are making more arrests for drug-based offenses than those related to alcohol abuse for the first time in three years, according to a story published this morning on MLive.com.
Ursula Zerilli spoke with officials with the police department about the recent trend. The department’s report stated that 118 drug-related arrests were made in 2011 versus 63 arrests for alcohol that same year. By comparison, officers made 91 drug busts the previous year, while they made 92 arrests for alcohol related offenses in the same time period.
Marijuana is most common substance that officers arrest students for possessing, Zerilli reports. She adds that the recent uptick in drug arrests is due to better searching policies, which have been implemented by WMU police officers who have cross trained with the Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team, a local task force who specializes in drug enforcement.
The MLive reporter spoke with Lt. Scott Coy, who gave a word of caution about what people take away from the report:
“This report doesn’t reflect the students,” said Lt. Scott Coy. “It’s a reflection of what the police are doing in geographical boundaries, not the students of the university. Students we arrest could be visiting and may not even be a student.”
Check out the rest of the story at MLive.com.
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