No further charges planned in undercover investigation

Princeton Borough Police said a perceived tolerance for underage drinking at the eating clubs prompted their undercover investigations last semester, which led to charges against four Colonial and Quadrangle club officers.

Undercover police officers entered several clubs in late November. Chief of Police Charles Davall said, however, the police department did not have enough evidence to charge members of any other eating club.

Former Colonial Club president Chris Langhammer '03, Colonial officers Anna-Rachel Dray-Siegel '04 and Justin Mirabal '03, and former Quad Club president Roland Amaya '03 were charged with serving alcohol to minors. Langhammer and Amaya were also charged with maintaining a nuisance.

Davall said no further charges would be made in connection with the November investigation but did not rule out using the tactic in the future.

He said his department waited more than two months to make the charges because of the University's exam and vacation schedule, but making the charges public during Bicker week was also a factor. Bicker week and weekend initiations usually mark a surge in alcohol-related hospitalizations.

Davall said before the fall semester began he notified all club presidents of their culpability in criminal cases originating at their clubs.

He said that during meetings earlier in the fall, club officers had assured him that their security measures, including the use of wristbands, would prevent underage drinking at the clubs. But, he said, "the investigation showed us . . . that the wristband policy was nonexistent in those places."

In addition to what he saw as lax compliance, Davall said repeated reports of students hospitalized led the department to implement an idea "that was kicked around a couple years ago."

'Primary reason'

Mayor Marvin Reed, however, said that undercover investigations into the eating clubs have happened in the past, "not just because of alcohol . . . That may not have been the primary reason that we had undercover investigations." He said drug use was one issue that may have prompted earlier investigations.

Inter-club council chair Dan Hantman '03 declined to comment.

Janet Dickerson, vice president for campus life, said the administration regrets the operations occurred, but was disheartened that club officers allegedly violated state laws. She said the University has no plans to "create a defense of those activities which are known to be illegal."

Dr. Daniel Silverman, the University's chief medical officer, said he worried that the police action "might drive some excessive drinking underground further or off campus." Another concern, he said in an email, is that students will not report themselves or friends to University Health Services for fear of sanctions.

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Though the only clubs at which officers were charged were sign-in clubs, Borough Police Lt. John Reading said that the borough police did not and would not in the future discriminate between Bicker and sign-in clubs for investigation. he said the Bicker clubs' use of bouncers did not influence which clubs were investigated.

Reading would not confirm or deny whether the officers entered the clubs with the help of fake identification. He said he did not actually know the specific means used to enter the club.

Frank Askin, a lawyer and director of the constitutional legal clinic of Rutgers University, said that entering or being invited to enter private clubs under false pretense would "absolutely" affect the legality of the search. A search using fake identification would present a "clear violation of privacy rights [and] of the search and seizure provisions of the state constitution."