 "Photo: Daniel Sakow, Staff Photographer")
 "Photo: Kelly Calligan, Assistant Photo Editor")
 "Photo: Kelly Calligan, Assistant Photo Editor")
Sirens screeched, lights flashed and students hurled Friday night outside San Diego Police Department's mobile command center, stationed off the 5100 block of Montezuma Road.
Like many young people throughout San Diego, Tyler Slauson, a 19-year-old Mesa Community College student, was just looking for a party. As lack of luck would have it, after trying to make his way into Kappa Sigma fraternity, he found himself in what partygoers have infamously deemed, "the drunk tank."
"They picked me up for whatever reason, arrested me, made me an example, dumped out my alcohol and gave me a (minor in possession)," Slauson said. "I did have a water bottle of alcohol but other than that, there was just a bunch of girls around me - they picked on me because I'm a guy."
Slauson said he will challenge the ticket because, he said, it isn't fair that he received a ticket when everyone else around him was drunk.
But while Slauson feels picked on, cases like his are a dime a dozen in the College Area, particularly during the first few weeks of the school year.
The purpose of the increased police presence is to help set a tone for a semester, University Police Lieutenant Robert McManus said.
"We want you to have a good time while you're here at State, we want you to socialize, but there are some boundaries," he said. "We have found over the years having one or two weekends where we just bring a lot of extra officers out helps to establish that tone."
McManus, who headed up the operation Friday night, said during the beginning of the Fall semester, more people are out drinking because there are first-time freshmen letting loose and learning their boundaries.
As a result, many students find themselves in high-risk situations, Rob Hall, media specialist from North City Prevention Coalition, said.
According to a press release from Hall's organization, there were 20 arrests during the first weekend of the school year, including seven MIPs, four people who were taken to detox, two cited for hosting loud parties, one for driving under the influence, and police are investigating a possible sexual assault.
"Detective Chris Jacobsen is looking into it," McManus said. "It's an ongoing investigation at this point."
However, while the increased police presence seemed on par with past Fall semester crackdowns, the number of students brought to the mobile command center appeared to have subdued from last year. Some officers commented that this might be a result of police issuing more citations in the field, while others said students might be growing keen to their operation.
Last year, during a similar operation that spanned over three nights, police cited more than 90 MIPs, 20 people for public drunkenness and 35 party hosts for loud parties, or parties where minors were drinking, according to Hall's press release.
Although he now works on the other end of the fence, Hall said he used to come down to SDSU to party when he was younger. He said there is a variety of reasons why underage drinking does not just amount to "harmless fun."
"There's the walk of shame, where girls can't necessarily remember who they hooked up with the night before, and that happens a lot," he said. "There are people who drink and then maybe don't have the good judgment not to drive.
"It's a high-risk environment, and that's what we want to decrease."
The agencies involved in the enforcement operation include: the SDPD, San Diego State University Police Department, San Diego County Sheriffs Department, La Mesa Police Department, University of San Diego Police Department, Chula Vista Police Department, Coronado Police Department, California Highway Patrol and California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
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