Junior kinesiology major Anthony Nielsen realizes not drinking alcohol – especially during homecoming week – makes him somewhat of an anomaly among many college students.

Nielsen said he doesn’t drink because he’s seen what people do when they are intoxicated. One example Nielsen gave was how drunken students in his residence hall broke a six foot window near a stairwell in the Douglas C Wing.

Director of the Office of Community Standards and Student Conduct Larry Bolles said the “peak time” for reports of alcohol and drug violations occurs during Homecoming weekend. Bolles said approximately 200 additional DeKalb police officers will patrol campus this weekend.

According to the 2011 Clery Act Annual Security Report, there were 735 liquor law violations on campus in 2010. Nearly 14 percent of the 735 cases resulted in arrest, while the remaining 86 percent were disciplinary referrals.

There were 511 liquor law violations in 2008 and 786 liquor law violations in 2009.

NIU Sgt. Alan Smith said a disciplinary referral means the student is sent to the Office of Community Standards and Student Conduct. Students can be expelled, suspended, receive academic probation, fined, found not responsible or receive other sanctions for drug and alcohol violations, Smith said.

“It’s college, and people are going to drink, Nielsen said. “If you mess up once, that’s okay; everybody slips up. But if it’s a continuous thing, then it needs to be dealt with differently.”

According to the report, 37 percent of the 293 drug abuse violations in 2010 resulted in arrests. Smith said drug abuse violations are more serious than liquor law violations. For example, Smith said, possession of more than 30 grams of marijuana is a felony.

“The ones who smoke it or deal it know the levels of severity for everything they do,” Smith said. “Both [drugs and alcohol] negatively affect our communities.”

Smith said statistics for drug and alcohol violations were higher than other kinds of offenses because when many people live in a small area it increases the chances that violations will be seen while officers are patrolling.

“The environment we are in is conducive for us having numbers of arrests and numbers of calls about drugs and alcohol [violations] because a lot of people are doing them,” Smith said. “Change the environment and then the stats would be different.”

Smith said officers have the discretion to decide whether a verbal warning, disciplinary referral or arrest is appropriate. Students who the police have had prior contact with involving drugs or alcohol are more likely to be arrested, Smith said.

“We don’t want students to be severely penalized for everything that they do,” Smith said. “But at the same time, we’d like to hold them accountable because students are grown men and women, and we want them to be responsible while they are here.”

Smith said the police department’s philosophy is to gain compliance from students by using the least restrictive method. Each offense is taken on a case-by-case basis, Smith said.

“People make mistakes,” Smith said. “Other people make constant decisions like drinking or using drugs; those are not mistakes. Those are conscious decisions, but our job isn’t to give them the maximum penalty every time we respond to something.”