It may be a satellite campus, but Penn State Altoona students still have college parties. Now, local police are teaming up with off-campus student housing landlords to crack down on underage drinking.

 

“It seems almost like after the holidays the parties when all the students came back to Penn State it seems like all the parties have really started up,” said Logan Township Police Chief Mercer.

 

Mercer said the key is proactive policing.  That involves nightly police detail around campus and working with landlords to keep eyes on the inside. 

 

It’s been working so far at Nittany Pointe. 

 

“It’s one of the locations that we have with a lot of the parties at it. It has new ownership,” Mercer said. “They came in this past fall and so we made it a point of taking some time and meeting with the new group and we’re very impressed with what they’ve been doing so far.”

 

“They’ve been very, very supportive of things that we’re doing,” Apartment Store President Fred Egerer said. “We brought in a new security company. We installed some new security apparatus and cameras and things like that.”

 

Logan Township police said they are now receiving more cooperation from apartment owners and it’s having an impact. Officers have been able to solve vandalism cases and even peg a student who pulled a false alarm.

 

“You want to be able to look out for everything,” Egerer said.

 

They’re offering alternatives so students can still have fun and be safe. 

 

“We do social dinners, we did a nice big holiday turkey meal for them and things like that,” Egerer said. “But just really providing them a sense of community and home and where they fit within the overall structure.” 

 

Chief Mercer said they want students to enjoy their college experience but want them to be smart. 

 

“We’re concerned about the safety of the individuals up there because some of these things are resulting in overdoses with the alcohol and drugs,” Mercer said. “Sometimes that evolves to sexual crimes, sexual offenses against different people. So again we want to be proactive so that we ensure the safety of the students.”