65 students, including 39 athletes, were given tickets during a party
Operation Campus/TAP issued a total of 65 drinking tickets, with 39 written to student athletes, at a party in the 1800 block of Main Street.
The party, hosted Nov. 23, was allegedly part of “40s Week,” an annual party at Bradley where students drink 40-ounce malt liquor beverages.
Athletes on the cross country team allegedly host the party every year, and seven of the nine runners on the men’s cross country team and nine of 16 on the women’s cross country team were ticketed, according to police reports.
Members of the women’s tennis, women’s track and field, soccer, baseball, men’s tennis and softball teams were also ticketed.
The athletes who were issued tickets will have to face sanctions given out by the Athletic Department in addition to those outlined in the Comprehensive Alcohol Action Plan.
Associate Athletic Director for Communications Bobby Parker said the situation is currently under review and declined to comment further on the sanctions the Athletic Department gave the athletes.
Illinois State Police Sgt. Tony Halsey said a complaint was received about a party in that area, and when police arrived they witnessed people standing outside the house.
Halsey said the door to the house was open, and that allowed police to enter the residence.
Partygoers were ticketed for either illegal consumption or possession of alcohol by a minor or presence on a premises where minors consumed alcohol, which is issued to people over the age of 21. Nine of the 65 tickets written were issued to people over 21, according to police reports.
Halsey said at a party of that size Peoria police, Peoria County Sheriff’s Police and University Police are called in to assist.
“It is the policy of the Peoria Police Department to write tickets to [those over 21],” Halsey said. “Once you write one person, you have to write them all.”
University Police Chief Dave Baer said while people over the age of 21 aren’t always ticketed for being present when minors are drinking, there are circumstances when tickets should be issued.
“As an adult, you have a responsibility,” he said. “If you’re having a party or you’re at a party and you know there are people present that are under the age of 21, you’re responsible for that.”
Baer also said whether to issue tickets usually falls under the discretion of the officer who responds, but he encourages his officers to give tickets to everyone to remain fair.
“If you’re the designated driver and your buddy calls you for a ride and you go in the house right as the cops pull up, you could be given a ticket,” he said. “You do have the right to go to court and fight the ticket if you don’t think it’s fair.”
Halsey said when Campus/TAP was first created, the task force issued between 100 and 150 tickets each night, but this was the largest party broken up this semester.
