In May of 1998, Livingston Avenue student residents held ‘Livingstock,’ an annual block party. The party, which police broke up because of loud music and public drinking, ended with a riot and many arrests.

Since that time, the police have worked with Syracuse University to ensure that nothing like Livingstock happens again. As a result, off-campus security has accelerated into the program it is today.

Still, house parties occur. Over Labor Day weekend, police broke up multiple parties and made 42 arrests, said Lt. Joe Cecile of the Syracuse Police.

‘This is a residential area where families live, too,’ said Syracuse Police Sgt. Thomas Connellan. ‘If anything interrupts the quality of life for people, something needs to be done about it.’

Last year, police instituted a zero tolerance policy for open containers, which will continue until the parties calm down and the number of arrests decline. If that happens, Cecile said that police would consider going back to a policy of giving students warnings.

Police have increased patrols all around the university, and if students are arrested off campus, they will have to deal with both the city of Syracuse and the SU judicial system.

There is a community court where students arrested for open containers, loud noise or obstruction on the sidewalk can plead guilty, go to trial or agree to do community service. If the students choose community service, the charge will be expunged once the service is completed.

Despite the events last weekend, residents still support the students.

Harry Lewis, who lives on the corner of Lancaster and Buckingham avenues, has been a resident of the SU neighborhood for 42 years. He said that Syracuse students are much better this year than they were 10 years ago.

‘The students are more mature, better educated and they observe what is going on around them,’ Lewis said.

Despite the promising trend, Lewis supports the police’s tougher judicial actions.

‘Arrests are the most important thing,’ Lewis said. ‘The warnings didn’t do a damn thing. The police need to lay down the law from the beginning.’

One of the parties broken up over the weekend was next door to Lewis’s house, but he said he wasn’t bothered.

‘Parties are going to happen,’ Lewis said. ‘As long as they don’t bother us, I don’t care.’

Off-campus security has certain geographic boundaries when looking for loud music and open containers. Most of the patrolling happens on Livingston and Lancaster avenues, but some is also done on Harrison and Madison streets, Cecile said.

Since bar raids have become more and more common, Cecile said that police are trying to determine whether students are now going to house parties instead.

‘This is a new idea for us since the raids only started happening last year,’ Cecile said.

Published on September 4, 2003 at 12:00 pm