Myriad crimes result from liquor misuse
Whitney McFerron
Issue date: 11/4/04 Section: Alcohol InDepth
Alcohol-related crime means more than just DWIs and MIPs.
Adair County prosecutor Mark Williams said alcohol plays a role in most of the crimes he handles on a daily basis. He said he sees a variety of crimes indirectly related to alcohol, including domestic disputes, vehicular assaults, passing fake IDs and resisting arrest.
"At least 70 percent of our crimes that we deal with involve alcohol - everything but passing bad checks and driving while revoked," Williams said. "But even some cases of passing bad checks, people are doing it to support that alcohol habit, and we'll see checks to bars and convenience stores."
Kirksville Police Department Sgt. Steve Farnsworth said the majority of alcohol-related charges the police handle are for driving while intoxicated and minors in possession of alcohol. He said police also give tickets for peace disturbance, which often involves loud noise from parties. He said more serious crimes, such as vandalism and assault, often stem from alcohol consumption.
Farnsworth said the city has a protective custody ordinance that allows the police to hold intoxicated people for 12 hours until they sober up. He said officers sometimes release people to sober friends or family members instead of taking them into custody.
"If we go to a call and find someone intoxicated, we can't let them go because they could wander off and get hit by a car or something," Farnsworth said. "From that time, a lot of bad things could happen, so we have to find someone to be responsible for that person."
The Kirksville police took 225 people into protective custody last year, according to statistics released by the department. Farnsworth said he does not know how many of those were students.
"It's really a wide variety," Farnsworth said. "We get everything from [age] 16 on up to elderly."
More than one-third of the men and nearly 40 percent of the women arrested last year in Adair County for drunkenness were between the ages of 19 and 24, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Uniform Crime Report. Nearly two-thirds of women and 75 percent of men arrested for disorderly conduct in Adair County last year also were in the same age group.
Laurie Crawford, Uniform Crime Report manager for the Missouri Highway Patrol, said crimes like disorderly conduct, vandalism and assault often involve alcohol but that those do not factor into the Uniform Crime Report statistics.
"If a person was arrested for assault of an officer, that for the UCR would be reported just as an assault of an officer," Crawford said. "The fact that it was alcohol related would never be reported to us."
Dan Vogt, owner of the Wooden Nickel, said that during Homecoming weekend, an intoxicated woman kicked in some windows at the Journal Printing Building across the street, which he also owns. He said he sees a lot of students getting out of hand with alcohol.
"I'm not going to run down college kids because they're my business, but they do get drunk and do stuff," Vogt said.
Tom Johnson, director of Public Safety, said property damage and assault are two of the most common crimes committed on campus involving alcohol. He said he estimates that most crimes committed on campus are alcohol related.
"I would say probably two-thirds to three-fourths of crimes that we have on campus have some type of alcohol involved with them, whether that necessarily is they were arrested for the alcohol or the act they committed while under the influence of alcohol," Johnson said.
Johnson said he thinks some students have been drinking more this year because in many cases, the blood alcohol content of the students Public Safety has picked up has been higher than in the past.
"I don't think it's just our campus either, I think it's a nationwide thing," Johnson said. "I have no source to site from that or anything, but other colleagues I've been talking to seem to be experiencing the same level."
Steve Shimmens, chief of enforcement with the Missouri Department of Liquor Control, said he thinks the increase could be a result of state budget cutsbacks that have limited the number of officers on the streets.
Shimmens said areas with lots of college students often have the most incidents of underage drinking.
"It tends to be a bigger problem in college towns, probably for a number of reasons," Shimmens said. "The kids' being away from home for the first time could be part of it."
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Adair County prosecutor Mark Williams said alcohol plays a role in most of the crimes he handles on a daily basis. He said he sees a variety of crimes indirectly related to alcohol, including domestic disputes, vehicular assaults, passing fake IDs and resisting arrest.
"At least 70 percent of our crimes that we deal with involve alcohol - everything but passing bad checks and driving while revoked," Williams said. "But even some cases of passing bad checks, people are doing it to support that alcohol habit, and we'll see checks to bars and convenience stores."
Kirksville Police Department Sgt. Steve Farnsworth said the majority of alcohol-related charges the police handle are for driving while intoxicated and minors in possession of alcohol. He said police also give tickets for peace disturbance, which often involves loud noise from parties. He said more serious crimes, such as vandalism and assault, often stem from alcohol consumption.
Farnsworth said the city has a protective custody ordinance that allows the police to hold intoxicated people for 12 hours until they sober up. He said officers sometimes release people to sober friends or family members instead of taking them into custody.
"If we go to a call and find someone intoxicated, we can't let them go because they could wander off and get hit by a car or something," Farnsworth said. "From that time, a lot of bad things could happen, so we have to find someone to be responsible for that person."
The Kirksville police took 225 people into protective custody last year, according to statistics released by the department. Farnsworth said he does not know how many of those were students.
"It's really a wide variety," Farnsworth said. "We get everything from [age] 16 on up to elderly."
More than one-third of the men and nearly 40 percent of the women arrested last year in Adair County for drunkenness were between the ages of 19 and 24, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Uniform Crime Report. Nearly two-thirds of women and 75 percent of men arrested for disorderly conduct in Adair County last year also were in the same age group.
Laurie Crawford, Uniform Crime Report manager for the Missouri Highway Patrol, said crimes like disorderly conduct, vandalism and assault often involve alcohol but that those do not factor into the Uniform Crime Report statistics.
"If a person was arrested for assault of an officer, that for the UCR would be reported just as an assault of an officer," Crawford said. "The fact that it was alcohol related would never be reported to us."
Dan Vogt, owner of the Wooden Nickel, said that during Homecoming weekend, an intoxicated woman kicked in some windows at the Journal Printing Building across the street, which he also owns. He said he sees a lot of students getting out of hand with alcohol.
"I'm not going to run down college kids because they're my business, but they do get drunk and do stuff," Vogt said.
Tom Johnson, director of Public Safety, said property damage and assault are two of the most common crimes committed on campus involving alcohol. He said he estimates that most crimes committed on campus are alcohol related.
"I would say probably two-thirds to three-fourths of crimes that we have on campus have some type of alcohol involved with them, whether that necessarily is they were arrested for the alcohol or the act they committed while under the influence of alcohol," Johnson said.
Johnson said he thinks some students have been drinking more this year because in many cases, the blood alcohol content of the students Public Safety has picked up has been higher than in the past.
"I don't think it's just our campus either, I think it's a nationwide thing," Johnson said. "I have no source to site from that or anything, but other colleagues I've been talking to seem to be experiencing the same level."
Steve Shimmens, chief of enforcement with the Missouri Department of Liquor Control, said he thinks the increase could be a result of state budget cutsbacks that have limited the number of officers on the streets.
Shimmens said areas with lots of college students often have the most incidents of underage drinking.
"It tends to be a bigger problem in college towns, probably for a number of reasons," Shimmens said. "The kids' being away from home for the first time could be part of it."