Public intoxication policy

What Ferris students need to know to stay safe when drinking on the weekends

Ferris’ Department of Public Safety (DPS) was expecting to have a busy weekend due to Halloween festivities. Holidays tend to be a busy time for DPS due to an increase in student drinking.

Even with this holiday, DPS said they do not usually have many problems with the Halloween weekend in particular, but still had some advice for students.

“Regarding public intoxication, our first priority is to ensure that the highly intoxicated person is safe. If they are visibly intoxicated in public and under 21 they may get a ticket for minor in possession. If they are over 21, sometimes we provide a ride home if we think they might be a danger to themselves, or we summon medical response if we think they could be in danger,” Ferris Director of Public Safety Bruce Borkovich said.

In the past Borkovich has spoken out on the “no attention, no see” policy with minors. In detail, if a minor is drinking alcohol, in public, and is not causing a commotion or attention to themselves, they will walk right passed them as if they did not see anything.

“As always, we caution people not to over-indulge. If you are at a party, keep control of any drinks that you had, and do not accept drinks from someone you do not know or trust,” Borkovich said.

Many Ferris students think DPS has been doing a fine job on their public intoxication policy.

“They seem to work more on ethics and work on the assurance on safety rather than invasion of privacy and freedom, and I really appreciate that,” Ferris applied speech communication freshman Ryan Tucker said.

Meanwhile another student agrees but has heard about what DPS does if they do find someone to be a disturbance.

“Personally, I have never seen DPS write someone up, but I have heard about people that have been written up because of safety measures, especially when it has come to some extreme cases of public intoxication,” Ferris political science junior Cecelia Klee said.

Regarding Halloween, Klee believes DPS should make sure students are still being safe when they go out and party.

“I think they should try to enact measures so officers can do a little bit more to keep people safe during Halloween to benefit the students so they can prevent alcoholic sicknesses and injuries,” Klee said.

DPS has not released figures for the average minor-in-possession citations they wrote during last year’s Halloween weekend, but Borkovich said he is willing to give out more this year if it means keeping students safe.