With the Albuquerque Police Department's infamous Party Patrol out of commission, some students might think the time is right for public debauchery, but police are still looking to break up parties.
Party Patrol, the brainchild of Mayor Martin Ch†vez, was aimed at curbing underage drinking and drag racing but has been shut down for about two and a half months, APD Sgt. Ray Atencio said.
The problem, Atencio said, is funding.
"This happens all the time," he said. "These programs run out of funding, so they shut down. Then they get more money and start up again. Then they shut down again. It's kind of annoying really."
Grants from either the city or state fund Party Patrol, Atencio said. APD is expecting a grant from the city to get the program back up and running sometime in the next several weeks he said.
Though the program isn't operational, some UNM students say city cops are still using the modus operandi that has drawn pointed criticism of the Party Patrol.
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Bekah Bott, a 21-year-old senior, said she was at a party with about 40 friends Sept. 6 near the intersection of Florida Street and Candelaria Road. Shortly after midnight, she said, about eight APD officers arrived to put an end to the festivities.
"The police just charged in and told everybody to go home," Bott said. "We were all complaining that we'd been drinking, but they just said, 'we don't care. Get the hell out.'"
She said she didn't have to drive because one of her friends was sober, but that others who had planned to stay the night at the party may have had to drive drunk.
"I don't know what happened to everyone else," Bott said. "But I guarantee there weren't enough sober people there to drive all those people home."
Police gave no explanation why they were breaking up the party, she said.
"The music wasn't too loud or anything," Bott said. "I don't know how they (APD) count their successes but I don't think it's very successful to send a bunch of people out onto the streets to drive after they've been drinking."
Sarah Shannon, also a UNM senior, said she had a similar experience at a different party Saturday night.
"They just told us all to leave, no matter what," Shannon said. "They didn't offer us any alternative" to driving home.
APD Officer Gil Chavez, who worked on Party Patrol almost every Friday and Saturday night last year, said the patrol told partyers 21 and older "they needed to find a way home. If they were drunk, we never told them to drive," Chavez said.
He said the program was an effective tool for keeping noisy parties from disturbing otherwise-quiet neighborhoods.
"Once the kids knew we were out there, the out-of-control parties kind of dwindled," Chavez said.
Officer Chavez said he heard grant money would be coming through in the beginning of October to get the program re-started.
A spokeswoman from the mayor's office did not immediately return Daily Lobo telephone calls Thursday to confirm whether Party Patrol would receive the funds.
