Oxford police are never too far away to make sure students and Oxonians are abiding by the law on the Square, according to Oxford Police Chief Mike Martin.
“The main thing that gets you in trouble is getting intoxicated and causing a scene,” he said.
Martin said an average of 15 people are arrested on the Square each weekend, and most arrests involve
people driving while intoxi- cated, being loud, starting a fight or drinking underage.
All bars on the Square are subject to random Al- coholic Beverage Control (ABC) sweeps. The ABC monitors bars to catch un- derage drinking. If caught, the consequences could be a fine up to $500, 30 days of community service, a 90 day suspension of his or her driver’s license or a strike on a university account if he or she is a student.
The University of Mississippi’s Code of Conduct states that the two-strike pol- icy is formally entitled Mini- mum Sanctions for Alcohol and Other Drug Violations. This policy deals with drug and alcohol violations com- mitted by students at Ole Miss.
Students found in violation of a drug or alcohol offense will be put on two- strike probation for a period of time and will receive their first strike at that time. Any other drug or alcohol offense occurring within that proba- tionary period will result in a university judicial council hearing in which a plea or a determination of a violation will result in suspension from the university.
Chemistry sophomore Maylen McClenic has seen the police in action on the Square.
“I once saw a guy come out of the bar, and he couldn’t walk,” McClenic said. “There were about five cops around him to put him in handcuffs and a ton of other people around them making a scene.”
In order to prevent arrests and chaos, Tim Burkhead, production manager at The Lyric, said they have security covering the entrance where IDs are checked at all the ex- its, and security is scanning the crowd at all times.
Burkhead does not see the problem with intoxicated people who are not making a scene, however.
“I don’t think it’s fair that people get arrested for walk- ing home when they aren’t causing a scene and are try- ing to do the right thing by walking home,” he said.
