According to Kingston City Police, parties during this year’s Frosh Week were typical of other years. Police laid numerous charges during the week for infractions such as open alcohol consumption, intoxication, underage drinking and noise complaints.
A few were also charged under the Highway Traffic Act: one for driving the wrong way on a one-way street, and one for riding a bicycle on a city sidewalk.
“The only anomaly was the one house party that seemed to have gotten a little larger than it should have been,” said Insp. Brian Cookman.
The party, on Aberdeen Street, had a few hundred students present.
“That hasn’t happened before, to my recollection, for Frosh Week,” said Const. Michael Menor.
Cookman said exact figures for arrests and charges laid are unavailable. “To be quite honest with you, right now as we’re trying to move into a new building, that would take me some time to sort through,” he said. The Kingston City Police doesn’t keep a record of how many Queen’s students are arrested or charged.
“We don’t look at the university population as anything as a stand-alone entity,” Cookman said.
The city is divided into zones, and the University falls under Zone 4, which includes areas west of campus and downtown, populated by non-students.
Cookman said the number of charges laid were typical of Frosh Week.
“I’ve lived through Frosh Weeks that have been more in tune with what Homecoming has been in the past in of exuberance.” More police officers were on patrol duty during the week, but Menor couldn’t give specific numbers.
The arrests weren’t limited to first-year students. Cookman said charges are often laid on upper-year students coming back a week before school to reunite with friends.
“I don’t want to leave the impression that it was frosh involved in the activity,” Cookman said. “We found that the frosh have been extremely polite and law-abiding.”
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