Students received a record number of judicial referrals for violating liquor laws on campus in 2010, according to the latest Department of Public Safety statistics emailed to students Monday.

The number of those referrals — 1,084 — is the highest DPS has recorded since it began tracking the statistic in 1999. Other details in the DPS report revealed an opposite swing in numbers last year, including a drop in the number of referrals for violating drug laws on campus.

Each of the referrals, which are mostly made by DPS or the Office of Residence Life, were sent to the Office of Judicial Affairs.

A warm fall last year caused more visibly intoxicated students to wander outside on campus property, leading to the record number of referrals for violating liquor laws, said DPS Chief Tony Callisto.

‘Weather is a tremendous impact,’ he said, adding that the number of violations is usually highest until Thanksgiving.

‘If you’ve got a good fall warm streak right through Thanksgiving, that tends to increase the number of outdoor activities we’re confronted with,’ Callisto said.

Violating liquor or drug laws includes the unlawful possession, distribution, growth (in the case of drugs) or use of alcohol and drugs.

Though the number of referrals for violating liquor laws on campus has skyrocketed since 2008 — when the tally stood at 746 — the number has reached close to last year’s record in the past.

There were 1,025 referrals for violating liquor laws on campus in 2006 and 1,048 the year after. That’s 36 referrals shy of the most recent record.

The number of referrals for violating drug laws on campus, however, tumbled last year, which Callisto connects to students’ awareness of the harsher punishments for illicit drug users.

At the request of the Syracuse District Attorney’s Office, DPS began penalizing drug users with court appearance tickets in 2009, as opposed to just sending them to the Office of Judicial Affairs.

To issue a court ticket, DPS must be able to find an amount of marijuana and test it. If there is just an odor of marijuana and no visible amount of the drug, DPS will issue a referral to the Office of Judicial Affairs instead.

There were 126 referrals for violating drug laws on campus in 2009 but only 82 last year. Included in that group are also 17 students who received court appearance tickets on campus.

Statistics for this year are not yet available, but with the warm weather the campus has seen so far, Callisto said he hopes students will make the right decisions.

‘The vast majority of students are actually following the law,’ he said. ‘They’re actually going along with the program.’

mcboren@syr.edu

 

Published on September 11, 2011 at 12:00 pm