Paraphernalia and the Police

Even the Big Bad Wolf couldn’t get away with huffing and puffing unscathed.

A student resident at Jester West received a court appearance citation for possession of marijuana on Jan. 23 after University of Texas Police Department confirmed its odor from the first floor and confiscated the water bong containing a charred substance.

The incident in Jester West is the most recent of three cases for student paraphernalia-related possession this semester. Other incidents occurred at San Jacinto and Moore-Hill dormitories on Jan. 16.

Layne Brewster, University of Texas police officer, acknowledged the concentration of marijuana-based situations occurring on the southern part of campus.

“We don’t get too many out in Kinsolving or Littlefield or anything like that. It’s your high-traffic dorms usually,” Brewster said.

Coreen Newman-Coronado, area manager of Jester City Residence Halls, explained the Division of Housing and Food Service’s involvement in paraphernalia discovery.

“At the point where we’re aware that a student has paraphernalia, typically we would call UTPD and they would come and work further with the student and disposal, confiscation, and legal citations or anything that would happen here,” Newman-Coronado said.

Once at the scene, Newman-Coronado said she, other area managers, hall coordinators, and resident assistants involved only stay as much as allowed.

“It’s better for the student and the police that we’re slightly removed from the situation for the student’s confidentiality or for whatever the police need in their process,” Newman-Coronado said. “We don’t have the same level of training the police have, to really determine that, so we rely on our experts to make that judgment.”

Small containers are common places for hidden paraphernalia, according to Brewster.

“You know you find it in whatever little containers that will hold it. Coin purses, stuff that you wouldn’t question,” Brewster said. “When we do arrest someone, and we do the search after, we have to look through everything because you never know where they’re going to hide it.”

Drug paraphernalia — equipment such as syringes, roach clips and hashish pipes — is classified as a Class C misdemeanor and includes a $250 fine. UTPD, who works alongside the Justice of the Peace Court, Precinct Five (JP5) for these cases, noted some exceptions.

“If they have a higher crime, then the paraphernalia is usually not written up, they’re not charged with the paraphernalia, they’ll be charged with possession,” Brewster said. “Or if it’s a DWI, and the paraphernalia was found and searched incidental to arrest, they won’t end up charging.”

Brewster added that JP5 doesn’t stack charges.

“They’ll go with the highest one, highest two, and drop the smaller ones. The paraphernalia is confiscated and destroyed,” Brewster said.

The consequence for possessing these items doesn’t stop there, though. The particular residence hall staff writes an incident report detailing the situation, which is later reviewed by a professional staff composed of hall coordinators and area managers such as Newman-Coronado.

“And then, based on the information on the report, most times we would refer that to the Office of the Dean of Students, and then they would look at it from an institutional rule violation kind-of standpoint,” Newman-Coronado said.

Penalties on students with paraphernalia possession are based on what the Dean of Students determines.

“Depending on the circumstances, for drug kinds of violations students can be considered for removal from the residence hall,” Newman-Coronado said. “So if a student were to be suspended of course they’re going to be removed from the residence hall. But in cases where they may not be suspended, that could still be a part of the consequence or the outcome.”

The DHFS Residence Hall Manual, which is posted online, confirms the possibility of both outcomes. It states: “Any student in violation of the University’s regulations pertaining to drugs who is not suspended or expelled should expect, at minimum, to lose the privileges of living in and even entering the residence halls.”

Scenarios concerning repeated offenders aren’t nonexistent, but occur less frequently.

“You might have a group of students that hang out in a courtyard or in an area that there always seems to be the smell of marijuana as the RA goes by but they can’t prove it,” Brewster said. “And it’s really seasonal, because the UT population is transient; they come to school, they graduate, so they leave and it just fluctuates.”

Actions are still taken when such incidents occur.

“What we do is continue to call the police and make sure the Office of the Dean of Students gets that additional report so that they can add that to the totality of information they’re looking at to respond to the student,” Newman-Coronado said.

Whether caught or not, paraphernalia possession remains strongly discouraged.

“Follow the laws, don’t bring it on campus, and be responsible. That’s basically it,” Brewster said.