The Oxford Police Department doesn’t suck, you do

In a time where hating police is more common than loving them, I think it’s time we unruly Miami University students paid the Oxford Police Department (OPD) some well-deserved respect.

If you take the students out of Oxford, this town is much quieter. The students more than double the town’s population of about 11,000 people, which becomes a huge responsibility for OPD officers during our academic calendar year.

It goes without saying that college students are huge perpetrators of alcohol-related crimes everywhere, not just in Oxford. The stigma that everyone drinks doesn’t make it any less of a crime.

In the state of Ohio, underage drinking or possession of alcohol as a minor is classified as a third-degree misdemeanor. Consequences of such a charge can include fines and even jail time in some cases. Similarly, possession or use of a fake identification card can result in fines or suspension of a license. When both charges are stacked, fines and potential jail time tend to be higher.

These are two incredibly common crimes for any college student under 21 engaging in the commonality that is underage drinking in college towns. The drinking culture here at Miami and the placement of OPD’s headquarters across from our most popular bar amplify the rocky relationship between police officers and students here in Oxford.

Objectively, the OPD officers do a great job of keeping Oxford a safe community for both students and townies with minimal amounts of large-scale crime, like assaults and robberies. Most of the crimes that occur here end in misdemeanor or traffic charges.

It’s not something to take for granted that we rarely hear gunshots around Oxford or that the assumption when hearing a siren is that a residence hall is having a fire alarm. Although we may not like the group of cops standing across the street from Brick Street Bar, their presence is meant to keep us safe.

I’ve heard too often students claiming that OPD hates students or that their watchful eye on us is only intended to result in arrests and fines. The paperwork and having to deal with college kids certainly isn’t the fun activity we chalk it up to be.

The stereotype of Miami students being majority privileged, preppy, rich, white kids doesn’t seem to stray too far from the truth, here. We take advantage of the assumption that the rules don’t apply to us and assume that the town we live in is safe enough to warrant less monitoring.

Policing the town and keeping the community safe is their job, and drunk students peeing or puking in public falls under OPD’s responsibility, whether we like it or not. It’s our choice to keep ourselves out of those situations if we wish to avoid the consequences that might come with it.

Since we only spend part of the year in Oxford, we should be taking more initiative in compliance with the law as visitors in a town that’s more theirs than ours. Respecting their authority is just a small part of that.

rosente2@miamioh.edu

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Elisa Rosenthal is a senior Spanish education major with a passion for writing and storytelling. She’s originally from Georgia and writes sports for The Student, honoring a long family love for college sports.