Joy Wang

Last Thursday, Brunswick Police Department (BPD) cited and summoned 24 Bowdoin students at Bolos Kitchen and Bar.

According to Chief of Police Scott Stewart, BPD worked in conjunction with the Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations (BABLO) to conduct an alcohol “compliance check.” BABLO will not comment on ongoing investigations.

“There had been numerous complaints about violations of alcohol laws happening at Bolos,” Stewart wrote in an email to the Orient.

Of the 24 Bowdoin students cited and summoned, 19 students were cited for consuming alcohol as minors, according to Executive Director of the Office of Safety and Security Randy Nichols. Four students were apprehended for presenting false forms of identification (ID) and two students were charged with refusing to submit to arrest and detention. Of the students charged with refusing to submit, one attempted to run from the police and was later cited and charged with consumption of liquor as a minor. The other student was physically arrested and released on bail later in the night.

The owner of Bolos, Mike Jerome, has required two forms of ID upon entry since a similar incident involving BPD and Bowdoin students last year. Nichols echoed those regulations in an email to students reminding them that a “local establishment” will be requiring two forms of ID upon entrance.

“There’s been some issues at Bolos with regard to minors gaining entrance and consuming liquor, and so that’s why Bolos started to get more strict with the requirements…. We wanted to at least remind our students to be cautious and not to put Bolos in a situation or themselves in a situation,” Nichols said.

Jerome declined to comment due to the ongoing investigation.

Jai DuVal ’24 was present during the compliance check and recalled how the night played out for the underage students at Bolos. According to her, the establishment only asked for one form of ID upon entry.

“[We were at Bolos] for a while and then the lights turned on.… It turns out they were checking two forms of ID on the way out, and there [were] a bunch of underage people in there, and so people were freaking out,” DuVal said.

BPD notified Nichols and Bowdoin Security of the citations shortly after the compliance check began.

“Security was notified after the incident had already started … so it was basically a courtesy to make us aware that there was a situation and they would be reporting back to us with further information,” Nichols said.