Lawyer, professor: Law might not always require underage alcohol citings

A lawyer, a law professor and an administrator from another university think that Pitt is… A lawyer, a law professor and an administrator from another university think that Pitt is incorrect in its position that Pennsylvania law requires its police officers to cite all intoxicated underage students they encounter.

University officials maintain that state law requires officers to cite underage students, regardless of whether they are seeking medical attention. Officials at Carnegie Mellon and Temple University, however — as well as several legal experts — said the law leaves the citation of underage drinkers up to the officers’ discretion, although actual departmental policies can and do differ.

State-related Temple and private CMU both have amnesty programs in place for intoxicated underage students seeking medical treatment. These policies state that university police will not cite students seeking medical attention. This differs from Pitt’s current policy, which does not take into account whether a student is seeking medical attention; Pitt’s policy was a source of controversy last semester.

Proponents of amnesty programs say that the policy encourages intoxicated underage students to seek professional medical attention when over-consumption has put them in danger. The programs try to accomplish this by letting students know that they will not be punished for a violation of the student code of conduct if they are intoxicated and seeking medical attention.

Pitt officials have said that — according to Pennsylvania law — an on-duty Pitt police officer must cite any underage intoxicated student that she encounters. This differs from the procedure followed by police officers working at UPMC Presbyterian hospital, who are off-duty officers hired by the hospital. (See related story on page 1.)

Lt. Gary Scheimer of the Carnegie Mellon University police said rules of discretion allow officers to choose not to cite students while still remaining within the bounds of the law.

“I am happy we have this protocol,” he said, referring to CMU’s amnesty policy. “It puts student safety as number one, and as it seems to me we haven’t really had any problems with it.”

Owen Seman, an attorney at the Law Offices of Patrick J. Thomassey, a Pittsburgh law firm, said the procedure for citing underage drinking, as a summary offense, is loosely defined within the statutes.

“The action of officers is at the discretion of the officer on the scene,” he said. “Essentially, when an officer encounters a situation of underage drinking, there is no specific action that is mandated to be taken by the law.”

“There is lots of gray area. Nothing is set in stone and nothing says the officer must act in a certain way,” he said. “The statute simply reads that the officer can take a certain action. At that point, it becomes the officer’s call as to what to do.”

He added that the amount of discretion officers have varies from department to department. Where one department might instruct its officers to use greater discretion when dealing with summary offenses, other departments might instruct their officers to use no discretion and act upon all that the law allows them, he said.

Pitt law professor John Burkoff confirmed this assertion, saying that although there is no legally mandated action on the part of the officer, officers might be required to act in a certain way to keep their jobs.

This differs from the previous statements of Pitt officials who have said that Pennsylvania law requires officers to cite underage students.

Robert Hill, Pitt’s vice chancellor of Public Affairs, said in a paid advertisement in The Pitt News last semester that it is the “responsibility of police officers to enforce the laws that have been enacted to promote public health and safety.”

Hill wrote, “Therefore, when the Pitt police are called to the scene to render assistance to someone younger than 21 who has consumed alcohol to the point of requiring medical attention, they will meet that responsibility by issuing a citation for underage drinking.”

According to Pitt police records, only two students have been cited at UPMC Presbyterian for underage drinking in the past two years. However, records do not include whether students cited at other locations were seeking medical attention at the time.

Hill said in an e-mail, “When Pitt police are called to a scene at which an underage consumer of alcohol is identified, there is no discretion on the part of the duly sworn officer. Police officers at other universities may have different mandates that apply under Commonwealth of Pennsylvania law.”

Hill declined further comment on the legality of an amnesty program or police officer’s discretion, referring back to previous communications and the advertisement. Pitt’s police department has referred all questions to Hill and the Public Affairs Department.