3rd December 2005
Cracking down…
3 December 2005
Last night the party at our house was broken up by the police at 1:00am. I have no objection to the party being broken up; the party was very loud and 1 o’clock is very late. My friend and fellow tenant, Tyler Zwagerman, spoke with the police as they were still in their cars in front of the house - I was on the porch keeping track of what was going on. The police told Tyler that we needed to do what we needed to do to shut the part down, and so Tyler went to go tell the DJ to cut the music, but word went ahead of him, and the DJ called out the last song. Tyler, though not comfortable with this, thought it would probably be acceptable as long as we shut it down fairly quickly. This was undoubtedly the wrong decision, though I count anyone as very strong who could discount the formidable peer pressure of that moment.
The police, hearing the continuation of music, parked their cars (not an uncommon sight on our street), and began to walk up our driveway. Worried about the “last song†thing, Tyler was already on his way out to explain that this was the last song. One of the police officers involved began to yell very loudly at Tyler. He made it very clear this time that when he suggests something should be done, he expects it to be done immediately, but instead, he said (of himself and the other officer on the scene), “We’re wasting our time breaking up your stupid party.†He elucidated that everyone needed to leave our house right at that moment. Everyone at the party promptly complied, and the police were gone no more than 5 minutes later - it had been less than ten minutes since Tyler first went down to talk to them.
The party was very loud, and it was very late, and not shutting the party down right when the officer first recommended it was not necessarily a good decision. I have no objection to the police presence at our house or in our neighborhood. However, I would like to note a few things about the situation:
1) The initial conversation that the police officer had with Tyler was very vague. Tyler’s a senior at Calvin College, and very intelligent. He picks up on commands very quickly, but was unsure this time. Non-compliance in this case should not necessarily be equated with deliberate disobedience or belligerent disrespect, but rather with misunderstanding the urgency of the situation.
2) The second time Tyler went out to speak with the officer, the officer made a show of force to Tyler by shouting. While this might be appropriate in some situations, our street was quiet, and Tyler was being neither disruptive nor inattentive. It is important that police officers have the means to protect themselves in potentially dangerous situations by having means of force at their disposal, but there are serious consequences to allowing indiscriminate use of force - even if it is merely shouting.
3) When the police officer mentioned that they were “wasting (their) timeâ€, I found it to be rather disturbing. If there was any real opportunity cost to their presence there last night - that is, if they were at our house instead of responding to an emergency call - I apologize with earnest for myself and my housemates. If this is the case, of course, everyone should agree with me that there is something seriously wrong with the Grand Rapids Police Departments protocol. Assuming this is not the case, than the time they were wasting really only involved - more or less - potential opportunity costs. They could have been breaking up more parties, or responding to non-emergency calls, or patrolling the streets for drunk-drivers - of which they cannot be sure to find any. Yet, I would apologize for this potential opportunity cost even, for my car was in the shop for four weeks this fall after being rear-ended by a drunk-driver, and I understand this to be the least of possible harms stemming from reckless motor vehicle operation, having become a paraplegic in a car accident last fall - though the guilty party in that case was a deer.
4) Finally, to reply to those who picture this party like the parties they were probably at in college: Every person at our house was clean and sober as they all walked to their cars at one o’clock last night. Four of us who live together in that house are seniors at Calvin, and we all started our college careers running together for the school’s cross country and track teams. Last year, unsatisfied with the team parties of the past, we decided to invite more people, and make things a bit more exciting. We decided to insist that our parties be drug-free, alcohol-free to show that college kids can still have fun without getting drunk.
This year, we asked some friends of ours from Calvin, being DJs, if they would be interested in setting up their equipment at our house and spinning some beats. They were delighted to do it, and our parties got a little bit louder, and a little bit bigger. Obviously, kids from the cross country and track team still show up, but we try to invite as many diverse groups of people as possible as an alternative to whatever else might be happening on a Friday night (read: other parties of a decidedly different character). In fact, another of these guys I live with, Jesse Kleinjan, has become very interested in alcohol-abuse prevention at colleges, finding the scholarly research to show that currently used methods are inept. It is his belief that in leading by example and showing that there are other ways to prevent alcohol abuse that has largely led to the expansion of our parties.
All this to say, when the police officer complained about our “stupid party†he should only hope that when his children are college students they find themselves at a party of the sort we were having. As I looked into the tired but euphoric faces of each kid leaving our house last night, in spite of the intervention of the police - no, especially because of the intervention of the police - I was proud of my friends Tyler and Jesse, and thinking eagerly about our next party.
5 comments
5 Responses to “Cracking down…”
Leave a Reply
To reply to this post, please enter your name and write your comment in the textbox below. Some HTML tags are allowed, but others will be stripped if you enter them in your comments.
Kimmy says:
December 3rd, 2005 at 4:35 pm
Well, I had a wonderful time. So, thanks for opening your house for the party.
~Kimmy
Josh Leo says:
December 3rd, 2005 at 9:18 pm
Sounds like the party was fun…but yess I would have to agree with your conclusions about how the matter was handled with the police…well written Buddy!
Kerri (Fast) Hurd says:
December 3rd, 2005 at 10:57 pm
Daryl-
I’m so proud to say that I know you, and am so encouraged by you and the decisions you are making.
God Bless You! Kerri
Steve Pisano says:
December 12th, 2005 at 2:03 am
Dary,
This is Steve Pisano I met your dad tonight at church, I did not know that he was the interm chaplin at the YMCA. He rememberd me from visiting at Craig. He also said that you may come to visit some time.
Sounds like you are having a blast at school.
Your Brother in CHRIST
Stevie P
Ellie says:
December 30th, 2005 at 12:45 pm
i don’t know you but it’s great to hear that other people want clean parties too, it can be so hard to get a group of students together without alcohol at my university!
i’m sure it’s all to do with having Christian friends that has allowed me to find people who do want to have fun without alcohol.