Young or belligerent drunk Winona State University students might want to stay off the streets Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights because four Winona Police officers will be on foot patrol looking for violators of underage and public consumption laws.

“We collaborated with Winona State to put walking beats in place,” Frank Pomeroy, chief of police, said. “It is funded by Winona State and the city, which donate about $3,000 each.”

The donation allows for police officers to work overtime on foot patrol, Pomeroy said.

Between Aug. 29 and

Sept. 22, Winona Police foot patrol have made 62 minor consuming arrests, 17 loud party arrests and 17 public consumption arrests.

Police are looking for people drinking on the streets, underage drinkers and loud party-goers who, Pomeroy said, congest neighborhoods.

“I was surprised to see cops on foot,” senior Kimberly Moore said. “I was outside at a party talking to a friend and two cops came up to me, questioned me, gave me a breathalyzer and a ticket.”

First-time underage and public consumption tickets have been raised from $65 to $140 two years ago.

“The students are the ones that said ‘let’s get the fines raised,’” Pomeroy said. “Maybe if there’s bigger fines then some of the behavior will stop, so we doubled the fines.”

Along with public and underage consumption, house parties have also been a problem for police.

“We start to get a lot of parties at the first part of the school year,” Pomeroy said.  “Once people find out that they’re going to get arrested and that fines are substantial, they stop the parties.”

Since foot patrols have been in force, neighbor complaints have gone down.

Numerous complaints come from Winona State professors, whose homes are near campus, Pomeroy said.

“Having a dumpster go by your house at 2 a.m. with a bunch of kids, drunk, screaming, pushing it past your window, is not a pleasant thing for (neighbors) to wake up to,” Pomeroy said.

A person drunk in public is what causes problems for everyone else.

“All we’re trying to do is get that behavior down to where it’s somewhat tolerable,” Pomeroy said. “Fact of the matter is the law is 21. We have to enforce whatever laws are in the books, and right now it happens to be 21.”

Doug Sundin/Winonan

Winona Police officers head out on foot patrol last Thursday night. Winona State has paid the police to patrol the campus on heavy partying nights.