Fewer fouls at “Fauxcoming”

Police report a decrease in arrests, increase in cooperation

Kingston Police arrested 12 people for public intoxication on the weekend.
Image by: Asad Chishti
Kingston Police arrested 12 people for public intoxication on the weekend.

Kingston Police and University officials are breathing a collective sigh of relief after the excitement over Saturday’s win at Richardson Stadium failed to translate into big disruptions on Aberdeen St.

Although post-game parties were well-attended on Saturday, they were mostly contained to houses.

“I actually didn’t really head up the Aberdeen St. I was really curious about it, however. I heard a lot about it,” Dominique Dupuis, ArtSci ’15, said. “Nothing really happened last year for Homecoming. There was a lot of Fauxcomings, but nothing really to do with an actual Homecoming.”

Although Dupuis wasn’t making a point of avoiding Aberdeen St., she did choose to celebrate elsewhere.

“To be honest, we are 19 this year so we decided to go downtown,” she said. “Had we known [about] anything going on we probably would have gone down without any hesitancy.”

Dan Lawi, ArtSci ’16, was on campus at 10 p.m. looking for fun. He said at the time that he’d expected fuller houses and hoped the parties would pick up as the night progressed.

“Right now it’s kind of dead. It’s early, right.” In an email sent Monday to all Queen’s community members, Principal Daniel Woolf stated that he’s working with “various members of our community, including alumni, to plan for the potential safe return of fall reunions in 2013.” In May, the University Council voted to recommend that Woolf reinstate the event for next year.

On Sunday, Woolf tweeted that he was thankful for “the overwhelming majority of alum, students and guests who had or attended safe, respectful and infraction-free celebrations.” Steven Koopman, media relations officer for Kingston Police, said he was impressed with the decrease in public intoxication arrests this past weekend compared to Fauxcoming and Homecoming weekends of years past.

The police made 12 arrests for public intoxication over the weekend, seven of which were on Saturday night. Koopman said of the 12, eight were current Queen’s students, two were recent alumni, one was from St. Lawrence College and one was from Algonquin College.

Public intoxication arrests peaked in 2008 when 124 people were arrested, he added.

He credits the shift this year not only to the city, Queen’s administration and Campus Security, but also to students in particular.

“There’s been an attitudinal change and I believe part of it is also pushed by the fact that Queen’s students feel strongly about their school spirit and really want to see Homecoming return,” he said. “We certainly will not take full credit for this.”

If police let a person go and the individual then causes harm, the police are liable, he added. “They can be publicly intoxicated, but if they’re with a friend that seems to be more sober or taking care of the person, officers are prioritizing and will let that person go,” he said.

Discretion is also used in regards to noise violations, 36 of which were issued over the weekend., he said, adding that officers are “diligent” when it comes to issuing warnings before handing out a ticket.

“We’ve always supported Queen’s Homecoming and Queen’s spirit; it just needs to be done safely and responsibly.”

The AMS released a statement Monday afternoon in which President Doug Johnson expressed the AMS’ “strong optimism regarding the return of a fall reunion in 2013 in light of the generally excellent student conduct over the past weekend.”

— With files from Vincent Matak

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