OU Crime Watch: Drug and alcohol citations still an issue

The trend of drug- and alcohol-related crimes on campus continued steadily while other miscellaneous crimes accumulated during the past two weeks. Sexual offenses, assault and menacing remained in the daily police call logs. The two counts of sexual offense escalated in severity from assault during the first two weeks of school to rape over the past two weeks. The two more recent reports of rape are open for investigation at the time of publication. There was another report of telecommunications harassment and one of menacing. OUPD arrested one person for assault and aggravated menacing. Since Sept. 2, OUPD cited 13 people with possession of marijuana and six with possession of drug paraphernalia. It also found an unused syringe in parking lot 79 on Sept. 9. The syringe has been marked for destruction, though its discovery may cause concern in light of the recent drug epidemic in Ohio. The number of citations related to both drugs and alcohol have gone down since the first two weeks of the semester, though. The police issued seven citations for underage alcohol, five of which were also transported to Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail (SEORJ). Nine citations were issued for disorderly conduct, four of which were also transported to SEORJ. Two fake IDs were confiscated and destroyed, and one citation was issued for each of the following: possession of alcohol in a public place, open container and public urination. While citations for drugs and alcohol declined, citations for traffic increased. OUPD received two reports of crashes in parking lots 93 and 134 and seven reports of vehicle damage in lots 40, 44, 57, 84, 111 and the Ridges parking lot. In lot 132, OUPD issued a citation to a person for hitting a pedestrian. With 11 counts since Sept. 2, larceny and theft have also increased. Two bikes, one parking permit and two Parking Services signs were reported as stolen. OUPD issued a summons to a student living in Sowle Hall in relation to the alleged theft of miscellaneous items from someone’s dorm room. On Sept. 13, OUPD received a report of an unknown male entering a female student’s dorm room early in the morning at Gamertsfelder Hall. The trespass is under investigation at the time of publication.