BLOOMINGTON -
Police in Bloomington swept through the Indiana University campus Wednesday, aiming to stop underage drinking.
The Intensified College Enforcement - or "ICE" - patrols, are an aggressive new crackdown by State Excise Police on alcohol abuse around college campuses. In addition to legal ramifications, officers poured out any alcohol found in an offender's possession.
"The program is aimed at reducing the number of underage people that possess and use alcohol," said Excise Police Cpl. Travis Thickstun.
Bloomington, Greencastle and Muncie were the first targets - all college towns.
Police followed two women from a liquor store. The driver was 18 years old and the passenger had just bought vodka. Minors are not allowed to drive with alcohol in the vehicle. The officer made the woman pour the vodka down the sewer.
"Hopefully they make better choices next time," said Excise Police Lt. Christopher Bard. "Hopefully, we can avoid situations such as the Lauren Spierer case."
Spierer, an IU junior, disappeared last June after a night of drinking with friends.
Bard also said ICE is about protecting young people from their own wrong decisions.
A 17-year-old was arrested for trying to steal alcohol from a store, stuffing the booze up his sweatshirt. His father was called to pick him up.
Another call came in about someone trying to use a fake ID at a liquor store, another target of the program. The underage passenger tested just over the legal limit for alcohol. The driver was also charged as a minor consuming alcohol, one of them with a false ID.
"We don't want this program to be a secret. We want people that are underage and people in the community to know we are serious about underage drinking and are going to enforce those laws," Thickstun said.
