MANKATO (TEC News) – Mankato police greeted the return of college students to town by handing out 134 underage consumption citations Friday and Saturday nights.
“You could tell this was the weekend they were back,” said Mankato Police Commander Deb McDermott.
Student move-in day at Minnesota State University, Mankato was Thursday and Friday. The first day of fall classes were today.
The city used grant money to pay for having officers on duty working solely on enforcing underage drinking and social host ordinance laws in Mankato.
In addition to the underage consumption citations, officers also handed out 13 social host ordinance violations to people who supplied a place for underage drinking.
Police say they broke up one house party in the 800 block of North Fifth Street where they wrote out 50 underage consumption tickets.
A total of five young people were taken to detox due to the level of their intoxication. There were nine citations for disorderly conduct and 12 other assorted tickets for marijuana possession, trespassing, open container and even fleeing on foot.
This won’t be the last weekend Mankato police will use overtime hours to focus on underage drinking.
“They’ll see us again,” said McDermott.