Early Saturday morning in Allston, the Boston Police Department arrested 10 individuals, including several Boston University students, for alcohol-related offenses.
The arrests for public drinking, possession of alcohol as a minor and disorderly conduct occurred between 12 and 3 a.m., said BPD spokesman Eddy Chrispin.
The arrested individuals ranged from 18 to 26-years-old, according to the BPD police blog. A special patrol had been assigned to the area around Linden Street and Gardner Street due to past incidents, Chrispin said.
"There have been enough incidents there that the supervisors and the captain felt that it was necessary to assign a unit specially to patrol that area," he said.
Chrispin said an increase in police presence when students move in is standard both to prevent misconduct of students and to protect their belongings.
"Whenever we get related complaints about loud parties and underage drinking we will increase presence in that area," he said.
BPD spokesman James Kenneally said the increased patrols and multiple arrests were a result of an increase in complaints when students return to the community. "At the start of the school year we see an increase in loud party complaints," he said. "As a result, directed patrols are employed to specifically address that issue."
A letter sent to BU students by the BU Police Department and Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore on Friday afternoon stated there would be an increase in patrols over the next few weeks due to an assault on the Esplanade and a gang-related fight in Allston last week.
A BU sophomore and junior, who agreed to be interviewed under the condition of anonymity, said they were part of the 10 arrested that night.
The students said that they were walking near Ashford Street on their way home to South Campus, between midnight and 1 a.m., when they came across a group of people outside.
"I didn't know any of these other people, I didn't even know if they went to BU," the sophomore said.
The two said they stayed and socialized with the group for about five to 10 minutes before the police arrived.
Though the students deny that the two of them were drinking in public, the sophomore said there were some in the group who were.
"I think they must have been watching or something because the cops came up to us literally about five seconds after these people had pulled out beer," the junior said.
The police handcuffed and arrested the students for drinking in public and for being minors in possession of alcohol, the students said.
Several other individuals from the party were arrested as well. They were then taken in a paddy wagon, which made several stops to pick up other arrested individuals on its way to the District-14 police station in Brighton, the students said.
According to the students, the paddy wagon was full of other people arrested for alcohol-related violations upon arrival at the station.
"The police straight up told all of us when we came into the department, "we're using you guys to set an example for other people'," the junior said.
The two students were then taken to an interview room in handcuffs.
"They put one handcuff on my wrist, they put it underneath the chair arm and the other handcuff on my friend's wrist," the sophomore said.
"They even made us go to the bathroom together handcuffed," the junior said.
The sophomore said that they and a friend were held in the interview room for a couple of hours and told that they were each being held for $40 bail.
They were allowed to use their cell phones and called a friend who arrived shortly thereafter with the bail money.
After their fingerprints and mug shots were then taken, the individuals were escorted to a prison cell while their information was being processed, they said.
The students said they were not released until just after 5 a.m.
BPD would not comment on what happened at the police station, but a BPD spokesman said the students would not have been arrested had they not been drinking.
"It was a horrible situation," the sophomore said. "Me and my friend could have chosen to take a left on that street and we chose to take a right, and we ran into these kids we didn't know and talked to them for like five, 10 minutes and ended up getting arrested."
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