Police Didn't Hand Out Any Open Container Tickets To Fans On Saturday Outside Of Kinnick And That's A Great Thing
IOWA CITY — The season-opening football game at Kinnick Stadium saw a steep drop-off of game day arrests and citations in and around the stadium, according to University of Iowa police. Police arrested just three people for public intoxication and charged three others for underage possession of alcohol. No one over the age of 24 was charged with a crime. David Visin, UI associate director of public safety, said his records, which date back to 2009, show it was the calmest game day ever for law enforcement. In 2010, officials at the University of Iowa launched the “Think Before You Drink” campaign, which saw huge spikes in a number of offenses. During the 2010 season opening game at Kinnick Stadium, police charged 119 people with possessing an open container. Between 2011 and 2013 they charged another 180 people with possessing an open container during season opening games. On Saturday. not a single person was cited for having an open container. UI Police took to Twitter Saturday afternoon to acknowledge the good behavior of the fans, while noting there was no lack of festivities. “We were a little concerned when the loud party calls started at 0630, but you got it together & had a great day,” tweeted the official “U of Iowa Police” account. Officials with the UI athletic department and police department were not immediately available for comment Tuesday.
Zip. Zilch. None. The police gave out zero open container tickets on Saturday outside of Kinnick and that’s what I call progress. Because here’a the thing: the University of Iowa killed tailgating as everybody had come to know it when they launched their Think Before You Drink crusade back in 2010. They murdered it in cold blood. It was a disgrace. Think Before You Drink was basically an excuse for cops to crack down on people with open beers walking down Melrose. During the opening game of the 2010 season 119 people were hit with open container tickets. And there were zero on Saturday for the Hawkeyes opening game against Northern Iowa in Iowa City. That’s why it’s called progress. It’s still not the same as it used to be. You used to be able to walk up and down Melrose with an open beer in your hand and the cops wouldn’t bother you. That all went out the window in 2010.
Oh, and don’t for one second think the U of I being super worried about lagging ticket sales (there’s still 7,500 tickets left for the Ball State game on Saturday. 7,500! That’s insane) and the big decrease of open container tickets, and alcohol-related arrests in general, aren’t connected because they totally are. Hopefully this is a sign of them saying “Alright, we fucked up before. Now come back and start buying tickets.” Like I said above, the institution of Think Before You Drink in 2010 fucked up tailgating all together. It made average Joes and students afraid to go down there and get their boozing on. They figured it was safer and cheaper to just stay home and drink without running the risk of getting arrested or ticketed by overzealous police officers. The bottom line is people don’t like to be hassled when they’re tailgating. The people who are blacked out and throwing punches? They should be arrested. Not the normal person who just wants to get a strong buzz going at 9:30am in preparation to watch their Hawkeyes.
It’s progress if the cops were told to chill the fuck out on ticketing every single person who has an open beer in their hand. In fact, I was tailgating in Iowa City on Saturday. I was walking with a buddy who was holding an unopened tall boy as we strolled down Melrose. A cop asked told him to throw it away if it was open. Once he saw it was closed he let us keep moving. 4 years ago if that beer had been open? My buddy gets a ticket without a shred of doubt. Again, progress.