Going into the second week of the school year, syllabus week has come to a close with no shortfalls of calls made to the Pullman Police Department.
From numerous noise complaints, car or traffic issues and alcohol-related calls, sylly week was busy. However, only 90 calls were made to the department, which is 17 calls less than last year’s 107, said Aaron Breshears, Operations Commander of the Pullman Police Department.
On Greek Row, around nine alcohol-related cases were reported, ranging from sick and intoxicated people going to Pullman Regional Hospital to people calling the cops because a bar would not accept their ID.
EMS responded to medical calls such as alcohol overdoses, drug overdoses, non-party problems, injuries and pre-existing health conditions causing medical problems requiring ambulance services, Breshears said.
According to PPD logs, an unconscious person was transported from Delta Delta Delta sorority to Pullman Regional Hospital.
However, there is one offense that Breshears said concerns him the most: opioid overdoses.
“I know that there have been entities within the university and within the Greeks who have been providing students with Narcan for accidental overdoses, and I think that is a solution to the symptom, but it does not solve a problem,” he said.
However, the most surprising issue to come from this past weekend was traffic violations. There were at least 15 calls to PPD with car or traffic issues.
Breshears said the influx of students in Pullman during the school year leads to hit-and-runs, parking issues and even some vandalism.
Someone called PPD saying someone had thrown food all over her car and dented it. This happened on California Street where A Street connects, which is surrounded by Phi Kappa Tau, Pi Kappa Alpha and Sigma Chi.
One of the big issues that tends to come out of slyly week is noise complaints. This weekend, about 11 noise complaints were made throughout Greek Row. Most cases involved loud music coming from houses and parties.
Pullman does have a noise ordinance; if someone lives in a residentially zoned area, neighbors can complain about electronically amplified noise 24 hours a day and human voices from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., Breshears said.
“Our response to that is generally to contact the person responsible for the noise and try to get them to comply with the city of Pullman’s noise ordinance and to be considerate of their neighbors,” Breshears said.
Typically officers will let the people off with a warning. However, if the issue persists, he said residents can get issued an infraction around $1,000.
“It’s in people’s interest to definitely comply with the noise ordinance and to be considerate of your neighbors,” Breshears said.
There were also calls about issues such as Emporium not letting a person in since their ID did not look valid. It was.
According to the corresponding PPD log, the officer responded and advised the person that the ID appeared to be real, but requesting police to run a license in order to gain access to a bar was not a valid criminal justice purpose. The officer suggested that they try a different bar.
Breshears said that when responding to calls like this, they want to make sure they can prevent any issue that might escalate. However, some subjects are just out of their hands.
“If a business does not want to allow someone in, that is the business’s prerogative,” he said.
When there are issues, PPD tries to keep officers on College Hill and Greek Row as much as possible on high visibility proactive patrol.
Breshears’ main message to students is to be safe.
“You’re at a great university, and you have a great experience ahead of you. Make good choices, Pullman’s a great place to be,” he said. “If you make good choices, you’ll have a great experience here. If you partake in risky behaviors, the risk of something bad happening to you goes up.”
