The Buffalo police continued their escalated crackdown on parties in the Heights this weekend, breaking up two parties on Winspear Ave. shortly after midnight Saturday.
According to Lieutenant John King, the party at 125 Winspear Ave. was a disaster waiting to happen, with over 250 students packed into a house where the gas was unknowingly leaking.
"Everyone inside was smoking and drinking, and the pilot light was blown out and the gas was on," he said. "The crowd was enormous. Lucky for them, we came when we did."
And if a lit cigarette had ignited a fire, King said, no one would have been able to get out the back door because it was blocked by a stockpile of beer cans and cartons.
Between the parties at 125 Winspear Ave. and 63 Winspear Ave., UB police gave 19 students tickets to appear before the Student-Wide Judiciary, King said. Another eight students were given City Court summonses for selling alcohol to minors and possession of stolen property because officers found street signs hanging in their rooms.
King said the community's response to the Buffalo police's increased activity in the Heights has been "extremely positive."
"Residents have told us it's never been so quiet," King said. "They are pleased beyond belief."
King stressed that if students would just have "reasonable" parties or gatherings there is almost zero chance of contact with police.
"We don't have major problems with UB students," he said. "We tend to believe that the students are reasonable individuals and once we explain things, they abide by the law."
King said after October, police have had contact with most of the big party houses and breakups in the Heights usually become rare. The role of the police is to maintain the peace, not to lock students up, he added.
"It's not a contest between the student body and the police. We educate people, and they comply," King said.
