Wandering Around: Tipsy Walks, Alcohol Monitors, Cops, and Breathalyzers

Update! In light of recent news regarding open, on-campus collaboration between the DPS and the BCLE, we have written a follow-up post which updates some of the legal analysis in this post.

Many of your questions have focused on one of the most common situations at Fling:  If you’ve been drinking, and you are walking around either Penn property (I.E. the Quad) or the streets just west of campus, can you be stopped, and what might happen if you are?  In this post, we’ll tackle these two situations separately, addressing in the process your possible interactions with Penn staff and security, as well as Philadelphia or state police (BCLE officers, for example).  

On-Campus Wandering and Booze

As mentioned in this Under the Button article (Which also mentions us! And calls us nerds? Which is cool I guess? Do you even lift? What?),  there will be a doubling of the number of Penn alcohol monitors on and off campus through the weekend.  As defined, between this presentation about Penn’s efforts to streamline the registered party system (which has its own set of issues which we’ll address some day, after Fling) and this FAQ about hosting registered parties:

“Alcohol monitors are part-time staff members of the Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Program Initiatives.  The monitors are present on campus on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights to ensure that all students are following the guidelines presented in the University's Alcohol and Other Drug Policy.  Alcohol monitors work with sober hosts to maintain a safe party environment and address any issues that may arise.  Alcohol monitors also roam campus over the weekends to make sure that the University alcohol policy is being followed.”  

The monitors, as well as GAs/RAs, have the power to enter your room at any time in an on-campus residence as per Section 8 of your occupancy agreement for inspection of adherence to the university alcohol and drug policy.  So while it is unusual for your room to be raided while you are there, expect the possibility of intrusions into on-campus Fling drinking activities, especially in any room in the Quad.

While this seems especially grim for your chances of enjoying Fling on-campus, if you manage to find a way to drink without being explicitly caught with alcohol by staff members, your protections as tipsy person on Penn property are a little better.  Obviously, if you’re a loud, stumbly drunk, vomit in your hair, tripping on your heels and the like, you might give an alcohol monitor cause to assume that you have been drinking and proceed with disciplinary action.  But if you’re keeping to yourself and a monitor stops you, remember that they are not police officers.  While it might violate university policy, it’s not a crime to lie to them, and they have limited ability to determine through breathalyzer and blood tests that you have actually been drinking.  That being said, Penn has been deliberately opaque about the powers and limitations of these staff members.  You have certainly limited your expectation of privacy by enrolling as student here, and so be aware that there might be more hidden clauses.  However, based on historical precedent, simply being underage and drunk on Penn’s campus has rarely been grounds for anything but light disciplinary action.  Alcohol monitors have been known to call in police upon discovering unregistered distribution of alcohol at organized parties, especially to minors, but there seem to be few examples of them calling in police upon simply suspecting that an underage student has had a few, but reasonable, number of drinks.  

Off-Campus Streets and Talking to Actual Police

On your way between your dorm and your off-campus activities, there will most certainly be police officers roaming around.  You may encounter a mix of Penn police, which typically have been helpful in promoting general safety and not just boosting arrest numbers, and Philadelphia/BCLE officers, who are typically looking to harass and arrest you on this particular weekend.  

Presuming that you have been drinking, first and foremost, you should try not to draw attention to yourself.  Screaming, skipping, singing loudly, stumbling, and pissing on stuff are activities that we would advise against.  

That being said, a police officer does not need probable cause to simply ask you a question.  As we have previously emphasized, you should respond immediately to the officer: “Am I free to go?”  Any other response might incriminate yourself or somebody else.  If they say no, you are being detained and you should refer to our post about your right to remain silent.  The officer might try and escalate the situation, but in Pennsylvania, you are only obligated to give a verbal statement of your legal name.  Furthermore, detaining you without clear probable cause would lead to any other subsequent discoveries being inadmissible in legal proceedings.  

Simply looking young does not constitute sufficient probable cause.  For example, cops can ask you where you are going, ask if you have been drinking, or claim to smell to liquor on your breath.  But remember, having had a drink or two and then walking around is not in itself a crime; it’s only a crime if you are under 21 or clearly intoxicated.  Without knowledge of your status as a freshman or sophomore (I.E., that you’re on your way back to the quad), they wouldn’t be able to establish probable cause that you have actually committed a crime and therefore would have poor grounds to detain you.  

If you are being detained, and the subject of a breathalyzer comes up, you should be aware of the limitations surrounding the usage of those devices.  First and foremost, because a breathalyzer test requires your cooperation, it’s comparable to answering an officer’s question, and you can simply refuse to comply and say that if the this conversation is to continue, you would like a lawyer.  It is important to remember that the outcome of a breathalyzer test is not required to be known to arrest you for public drunkenness.  If you are clearly intoxicated, that is a crime and you can be arrested.  The police will merely use the result of the breathalyzer test to bolster their assessment of you.  Unless you are absolutely sure that you are of age and have not been drinking, it is usually not favorable for you to comply with a breathalyzer test.  Blowing even a 0.01 when being underage, which can even happen without drinking (due to inhaling paint thinner or gas fumes, for example), can lead to negative consequences.  

If you are being detained and refuse a breathalyzer test, the absolute worst case scenario is that the police compel you to accompany them to the station where they will attempt to draw your blood and directly measure your BAC.  Refusal of this test could constitute as admission of guilt based on the 1983 case South Dakota V. Neville.  However, and this is the cool part, in 2012, the US Supreme Court ruled in Missouri v. McNeely that a warrant must first be issued by a judge before a blood drawing can be forcibly administered.  By the time that this occurs, your BAC will probably have significantly lowered, and despite this fact, the police cannot still try and extrapolate your possible BAC at the time of your detainment.  

(Mad props to one of our law student readers who helped us navigate this quite complicated issue and establish legal precedent.  It was super awesome.)

Hopefully, we have addressed here all of the common situations in which officials, university or law enforcement, might try and bother you while you’re going about your merriment.  If you can think of any other situations that might arise or complications, feel free to comment below or email us at yrfling1@gmail.com.  

Remember fellow Flingers, we’re all in this together.  It was, after all, the dude who founded our university who said “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” So spread the word around, help us by asking more questions, and please don't turn on each other in fear that somehow a slight Penn alcohol citation would ruin your entire life.

Cheers,

-BW&TR