<p>Wondering if they arrest even if not caught physically drinking. Even normal police, do they care at campus?</p>
<p>I would imagine not but you will probably have to attend some alcohol safety awareness class. Unless, I’m guessing, your school has a very strict zero-tolerance alcohol policy, the class or some kind of lecture would be the worst punishment.</p>
<p>They generally won’t arrest someone unless they’re out of control. In most cases, they ticket the students.</p>
<p>My sister got caught. She had to write some essay thing about learning her lesson or something.</p>
<p>At my university, no, they don’t. We have a harm reduction focus rather than a punitive focus, so students caught drinking underage are required to do AlcoholEDU if they are so drunk that they attract the attention of Public Safety or end up in the hospital.</p>
<p>Note two things that may mean that there is no general answer:</p>
<ol>
<li> Campus safety and security departments are not necessarily real police.</li>
<li> While sale of alcoholic beverages to people under 21 is illegal in all of the US, consumption by people under 21 under specific circumstances is not necessarily illegal in all states.</li>
</ol>
<p>At many colleges, the first time a student is found to be underaged drinking, it is a required educational program. The penalties then get more severe with the 2nd the 3rd times you are caught.</p>
<p>The strictness varies greatly from college to college. At some colleges, the RAs are required to report students who drink, which destroys trust among the people who are supposed to be helping the new students. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, at my son’s university, the campus police (who are real police) only care about “keeping everyone safe.” If you are falling down drunk they will act, but they look the other way most of the time. </p>
<p>Most colleges do not have the luxury of being able to afford to expell students or anger them so much that they quit, unless it is a very serious offense.</p>
<p>Most colleges try to handle behavioral problems of their students without any criminal charges. The exceptions are sexual assaults and physical abuse of girlfriends, because there were so many coverups in the past.</p>
<p>
Good point. Another point is, often times, the person has already consumed the alcohol and there isn’t much the police can even do. I’ve been to a lot of events (both on-campus and off-campus) where illegal drugs and underage drinking is prevalent. I’ve noticed that unless the police catches you in obvious possession and/or selling/buying, once you’ve already consumed it, they can’t do much. Unless, of course, you’re extremely disruptive, violent, acting out, etc.</p>
<p>This will vary by school, as others have said.</p>
<p>In my own experience: One of my roommates freshman year got black-out drunk one night and managed to evade her friends long enough to wander around outside and get lost. Long story short, someone managed to round her up and called 911. She wasn’t arrested, but was hospitalized for suspected alcohol poisoning. A couple days later one of the RAs called her in to talk to her, but according to my roommate the conversation was basically just her saying she didn’t remember anything. She didn’t have anything else happen after that.</p>
<p>Awesome I’m glad they aren’t v very strict</p>
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<p>Yep, college is all about alcohol and this is a question with a very generalizable answer. </p>
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<p>I don’t know about you, but I personally wouldn’t want to find out the hard way if my school turned out to be really strict about this sort of thing. Don’t do anything stupid, regardless.</p>
<p>For your own personal safety, getting drunk is a really bad idea, especially in an environment with a lot of other drunk people. There are so many ways to be harmed (both criminal and accidental) where the risk is much higher when you are drunk.</p>
<p>At my school, the cops don’t seem to really care as long as you’re safe. My friends and I have definitely walked home while drunk past cops and have been fine. They just want to keep everybody safe.</p>
<p>Some colleges have good Samaritan rules. If a student helps a fellow student who needs medical attention, that student will not be penalized if they have been drinking.</p>
<p>I believe there are also some colleges that are very lenient with alcohol but very strict with drugs. </p>
<p>The official punishments are probably in some type of student code of conduct publication that is probably available online.</p>
<p>You may also see a big difference in treatment if you are busted by your college cops vs. the city or county cops. When I was in college, the rural cops outside of my college town did not like “college boys”. State liquor officers can also be less tolerant than local cops.</p>
<p>In some cities, the cops are often so jaded and so busy that they are very tolerant as long as you are not disrespectful to them. </p>
<p>When I was in high school, the local cops were famous for “confiscating” the beer of the high school students. “We’ll let you go this one time,” they said as the trunk of their cop car slammed shut.</p>