Newport Police Clean Up the Streets

By: Vita Duva
Posted In: Campus News

Whether you chose to attend Salve Regina University for its gorgeous location, career-focused degrees, financial aid, personal support, or internship and study abroad programs, you most certainly did not choose Salve Regina for its reputation as a party school. That reputation, if ever present, no longer exists. Salve Regina University will not be appearing on any, “Top Party School,” lists published annually by The Princeton Review, or even Playboy.

This academic year, Salve Regina University students may need to start cleaning up their act and watching their backs. Two Newport Community Police Officers, Kevin Parsonage and Jonathon Cortes, along with a Salve Regina University security officer, conversed with undergraduate residents from Hunt, Reefe, and Moore on Sept. 29, 2009. Their main concern for Salve Regina University students was making the right choices.

Salve Regina University security officers are on duty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They patrol around campus in marked security vehicles, on foot, or even, on mountain bikes. As for the Newport Community Police, they are now going out in what they consider, “plain clothing,” or average, everyday clothing, in unidentified vehicles looking to break up off-campus house parties, or cite audacious and sloppy students. Community police are also equipped with an alcoholmeter, which can detect the amount of alcohol in a cup or a bottle.

Christina Farrington, a sophomore, expressed a positive outlook concerning the changes underage students might face this year. “Officer Parsonage basically gave us a warning,” Farrington said. “I know from now on, when I go out I’ll remember to be more aware of my surroundings and make the right choices.”