Push-ups may no longer be just for the gym. According to Bowdoin students, Brunswick Police officers have resorted to a variety of penalties, some of them unusual, for disruptive weekend conduct.
For crimes such as public alcohol consumption, littering, and shouting in residential areas, penalties have included push-ups, fines, arrests, and verbal warnings.
Owen McKenna '07 said he was once asked by Brunswick Police officers to recommend a punishment for two disruptive Bowdoin students. McKenna jokingly said that the students should do pushups.
"I made that up off the top of my head because obviously they both seemed like nice guys. I didn't think it was actually going to work," he said. The police reportedly asked McKenna how many pushups they should do. McKenna said he thought they should do 25. McKenna added that after completing 10 pushups, the police told the students to stop. The Police said that they hoped to never catch the two individuals with open containers again, according to McKenna.
Zach Hammond '07 was one of the students asked to do push-ups. "I feel very fortunate that the police officer was in a good mood and let me off for being stupid," he said.
"The reality is that the officers have some discretion with regards to issuing citations and it sounds like they chose to do something a little bit unusual," Commander of Patrol for the Brunswick Police Department Rick Desjardins said. "That's not something that we would encourage. We don't generally issue pushups for citations."
In addition to their use of unorthodox penalties, according to some students, Brunswick Police officers reprimand students differently for similar crimes.
Last Saturday four students were caught littering a neighbor's lawn with beer cans on their way to Ladd House. Upon questioning and age verification, officers issued a verbal warning to the students. "After hearing what other students got as punishments, I feel really lucky that I got off with a warning," one of the students said.
Other students who wished to remain anonymous said they received citations for littering on Longfellow Avenue, in addition to public alcohol consumption and possession of alcohol by a minor. According to the students, the Police dropped the littering and public consumption charges due to cooperative behavior.
Last weekend an officer arrested a student for public alcohol consumption on Coffin Street due to his proximity to a sign that advises of the criminality of public consumption. The student, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he was unable to completely read the sign. The officer took the student to the police station. Officers took mug shots and fingerprinted him. The student paid bail and has a court summons later this month.
"It's happened to other people I know and they weren't arrested and unfortunately I was for the same offense," the student added.
"Officers do exercise a fairly large amount of discretion with regards to issuing tickets," Desjardins said. "The encounter is usually based on an officer and student or the person we're issuing a citation for. You have to understand what the officer's reasons are for giving a citation. The goal is to stop the violation. Is it better accomplished by giving a ticket? Can it be accomplished by giving a warning? It depends on how the student interacts with the police. Some officers are more apt to write citations than others."
Desjardins also stressed the importance of reeducating students on local laws. "We have to continue to remind ourselves that there is a new breed of students coming in that is not aware of the rules and regulations," he said. "In the last couple years, there were reductions in the obvious violations as far as open consumption. This year, however, there has been loud behavior, trespassing, vandalizing, and open consumption. Unfortunately, when we see violations we have to act upon them."
-Brian Dunn contributed to this report.