Noise complaints and reports of break-ins are the most typical types of activity local police deal with when students return to Athens, law enforcement officials said.
There were 22 noise complaints during opening weekend, which spanned from Aug. 22 to Aug. 25, according to Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle. A noise complaint does not necessarily mean a ticket was given.
“It was a little higher than throughout the school year but not anomalously high,” Pyle said.
On campus, the weekend went pretty smoothly, said Ohio University Police Lt. Tim Ryan. “There were no major problems.”
Athens Police Lt. Joe Stotts said when officers would respond to a call, the students were being mostly cooperative.
“From what I hear is that it wasn’t different from any other weekend,” Stotts said. “I don’t think anyone really gave any officers any problems.”
Stotts is hopeful that there are fewer complaints in the upcoming weeks, but said 22 for any weekend — let alone the first one with students back on campus — isn’t that bad. He added that the number of complaints will probably decrease as students get into their groove.
“It takes a couple weeks for everyone to remember that we have rules and everyone has to follow them,” Stotts said. “I would say by the third weekend, we have considerably less noise complaints called in.”
He added that as the weather cools, fewer and fewer complaints will be called in, and typically the calls steadily decrease throughout the course of the semester.
In addition, there were 13 break-ins and two burglaries reported during the period between Aug. 19 and Aug. 26, when the most students returned to town, Pyle said. Many students come back to find things missing from their residence.
The department typically deals with more thefts during the Winter Intersession, Pyle said.
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