Kevin Adams and his friends usually post their parties on Facebook. “As I always say, the more the merrier,” Adams said.
   But some students worry about the consequences of publicizing if police are checking the social network Web site.
   “Our parties are so big by word or mouth that they usually get busted anyways. Facebook would ensure cops at our door,” junior Josh Neuman said.
  Gene Burton, director of public safety for Ball State University, said students don’t have to be afraid to post their parties on the social network because police cannot legally target a residence unless there are obvious laws being broken.
   “If somebody puts their party on Facebook, we still have to have a valid complaint before we can go and investigate.”
   That police use Facebook to target parties is just one of many misconceptions that students have about University Police and their role in enforcing underage drinking, Officer Doug Warner said.
   “Students might think that we’re out there to get them and that we’re out there looking to get them in trouble,” Warner said.  “Obviously this is not the case. We are out there for their safety and for the safety of the community.”
    While Warner assumes that several students walking along Riverside Avenue past midnight are inebriated and possibly underage, he said that if people are not drawing attention to themselves, he will usually not stop them. If they do attract his attention, those who cooperate with him have a better chance of being let go or released with a ticket than those who resist.
    “If we stopped everyone who we suspected of underage drinking (our officers) wouldn’t get a block away from this office,” Burton said. “I don’t think there’s anybody connected with the department that’s naïve enough to think that we’re going to stop underage drinking completely. I think what we need to do is make sure we manage it and make sure that people are as safe as possible and the community’s rights are held in high regard as well.”
     Another misconception Warner addresses is his boundaries as a University Police officer. Many students, he said, believe that he is not responsible for enforcing laws off campus. Burton said that while this is true for universities such as Purdue and Indiana University, Ball State extends its force’s responsibilities to the Muncie community.
   “Our university’s philosophy is that the care of our student population does not stop at our borders,” Burton said.
    Patrolling in and outside of those borders, though, has actually gotten easier since he started on the force 27 years ago, Burton said.
   “It’s been my experience that from the time I was a patrolman breaking up the parties to being the chief that things have actually gotten quieter off campus and our students have become more responsible.”
   Burton links the decline in rambunctious behavior to the investment students now have in their college education.
   “Quite frankly when I was going to school here it was easier to get in school, it was easier to go to school, there was more grant money available,” Burston said. “Today’s college students, for the most part, are having to do more work themselves and have a bigger financial and emotional stake in going to college. That tends to make it a little more personal for them."



Police officer Bradley Clark opens the door of his police car as he goes on patrol of local neighborhoods.