Alcohol and college might as well be synonyms. It’s no secret that beer has become a permanent fixture in a university student’s diet. From budding freshmen to aging seniors, almost everyone in a higher education institution has engaged in some sort of drunken, belligerent behavior. The legal drinking age is conveniently overlooked in favor of some dancing while under the influence. The debate over the legal drinking age has been beaten down a million times, so I won’t get into it. However, I will comment on better ways for the Binghamton city police to spend their time.
Broome County Special Investigations Unit Task Force (what a ridiculously long name) spent the majority of the last Saturday night conducting a bar sweep Downtown in order to crack down on underage drinking. With the help of the Binghamton Police Department, Broome County Sheriff’s Department and New York State Department of Motor Vehicle Investigators (seriously?), 11 citations where handed out. Some of the citations were for possession of another person’s license, a forged driver’s license and obvious underage drinking. However, all people involved were released on appearance tickets.
I guess there really is nothing to do in Binghamton without including alcohol, even for the police. You can really tell when the Special Investigations Unit Task Force is on the hunt for some poor freshman with a beer bottle. I would rather the police spend their time doing something about all those crack houses in the area. I’ll take an underage drunk person over a crackhead any day. I find it disconcerting that crack dealers roam free on the streets of Binghamton while underage students are targeted by the police in an organized bar sweep. I understand drinking under age 21 is illegal, but what about priorities? Homicide precedes theft while assault precedes parking tickets, but underage drinking precedes crack cocaine? I’m not trying to tell the police how to do their job … OK, maybe it seems that way. However, I’m just trying to provide a suggestion that there are more dangerous things in Binghamton than a couple of freshmen girls getting wasted.
It is not impossible for bouncers to check IDs at the door, but it is impossible for bartenders to verify them while serving drinks during the weekends. Underage drinking is difficult to detect and virtually impossible to completely stop. I personally would rather have underage students drink real alcohol instead of the possibility of them making their own, Prohibition style.
It’s not that I don’t appreciate the efforts of the Binghamton police; I do. Our campus is very safe. I’ve walked from the library at the middle of the night comfortably, without fearing for my life. However, the city of Binghamton is far from safe, especially at night. I only have one suggestion: Please clean up the streets before cleaning up the bars. Crack is wack!