Just under 60 more people received citations on Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day this year from last year.
The Champaign Police Department had seen a decrease in the number of violations from 2009 to 2010 — 269 compared to 351 two years ago.
They were hoping to control that trend, but instead more students and others were cited for breaking the laws, with the final number coming in at 328 citations.
Leading the way were underage drinking violations with 191 people cited, compared to 121 the year before. Almost two-thirds of the citations were issued to students who were under the drinking age.
University spokeswoman Robin Kaler said the police controlled the event in the best way possible.
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Other violations included 74 city notices for public possession and 28 for adult responsibility, which means that someone is providing alcohol unlawfully to minors.
Champaign Police Department Sgt. Scott Friedlein addressed concerns earlier in the week about throwing objects off of balconies.
They made progress this year, as there were two fewer violations in 2011 compared to nine in 2010.
In addition, University Police Department Lt. Skip Frost and Friedlein stressed earlier in the week that University students were better behaved compared to students representing other universities.
“Due to the ownership that the students have for this campus, we didn’t have very many issues at all. What concerns us greatly are people coming from outside who have no ownership of this community and this university,” Frost said.
The numbers this year justified that claim, in which 221 non-University students were issued a city notice to appear in court as opposed to just 123 students from the University.
Friedlein said he believes this may be because local students have “concern and consideration for (the) community.”
Illinois State University had the most citations of students not affiliated with this University, with 18 violations. Other notable universities included Eastern Illinois with six violations and Parkland Community College with nine. Last year, Illinois State and Eastern Illinois universities shared the lead with 11 students each.
Furthermore, four people were arrested on state charges, which included theft and possession of cannabis. The numbers included in the final breakdown only come from the Champaign and University police departments.
