You may have spent your Friday night drinking alcohol or smoking marijuana while on the lookout for those pesky police. They’re always trying to spoil your fun, right?

To get a policeman’s perspective, I tagged along with a university cop while he made his Friday rounds. For security’s sake, I can’t mention names or places, but here’s what happened on my journey to the other side.

“Officer X” gave me a grand tour of University Police headquarters in the Eisenhower Parking Deck. They’ve got a one-way mirror in the interrogation room, a digital fingerprint scanner, and other fancy stuff.

As students, you may expect police officers to be gruff, handcuff-happy jerks, but Officer X was a wonderful guy. The police don’t go out of their way to bust people; they merely strive to keep the students safe, even if that means slapping citations onto a few unlucky law-breakers.

We examined graffiti in a residence hall, checked out a potential computer-lab break-in, and admonished some youths riding skateboards in the street. We searched for stop-sign drifters and renegade padiddles (Did you know that a one-headlighted car warrants a citation? Watch out, Jakob Dylan).

We discussed This American Life and directed a van of visiting female athletes to their motel. I even learned about policeman pastimes and rent-a-rocks. Everything was fascinating, and I really connected with “the other side.”

However, my enthusiasm evaporated when the time arrived to bust my fellow students. To make a long story short, some freshman blew chunks, and Officer X was eventually summoned. The scene broke my heart: covered smoke detector, quickly-hidden booze, faint smell of marijuana, crying, lying, vomit, and one completely ruined chill session.

The students who received charges didn’t truly deserve them; no immoral behavior transpired. Why were they busted? I consider it a mixture of “wrong place, wrong time” and a set of substance laws in need of reform.

Eventually Officer X and I arrived back at the station. I thanked him for the ride, and we parted ways. Perhaps it’s merely my student bias showing, but the busting made me uneasy. In my mind, I looked from the nervous students to the confident officer, and I didn’t know who to endorse.

We need laws, and we need police officers. Sometimes I wish they’d both just leave us students alone, but that’s probably a sentiment that I’ll outgrow someday.

In the meantime, contact the University Police if you’d fancy a policing adventure of your own. Ask about the Ride-Along program; you may gain new perspectives regarding a Friday night at Penn State.

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