Last December, students were throwing paper on the court during a basketball game.

After a few warnings, a patrol officer went into the crowd to assess the situation. A student threw a paper airplane toward the court with the officer in plain sight.

“What are you going to do, arrest me for throwing a paper airplane?” the student said.

“That’s a novel idea,” said Lt. Arnold Lemmon, of University Police. “He suggested it, so we did it.”

The University Police help keep campus safe and controlled, but sometimes they enjoy spending time laughing at the comments students make. Several officers said the most common phrase used when trying to get out of trouble is, “I wasn’t the only one!”

While this may be true, it is not an excuse and officers don’t take it into consideration when issuing tickets.

“A lot of times we just ignore it,” Lemmon said. “It goes in one ear and out the other because we hear them so often.”

Many officers say they regularly hear, “I didn’t see the sign” or “I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong.”

Lemmon said comments like these worry him about what these students are doing or looking at to distract them from seeing the obvious traffic and warning signs. Some students take notice of posted signs but think they are the exception to rules, said Lynn Stokes, a university police officer.

“There could be a ‘do not enter’ sign, red paint on the curb and a big sign above the parking space saying ‘no parking,’ but they will still park there saying, ‘I’ll only be here for a minute,’” Stokes said.

As with any law enforcement, there are no exceptions to rules, no matter how important a person may be.

“Sometimes we get ‘I’m a donor. Don’t you know who I am?’ One person made a comment about taking the fine out of their tithing money,” Lemmon said.

The Police Beat is one of the things many students read on campus for a good laugh, but the police officers involved laugh for other reasons.

A child once dialed 911 because his mother put him in time-out. Another young man called 911 because his sister would not share the TV remote.

Every now and then, people slip their temple recommends into their registration in hopes of swaying the police, said Adrian Jim, a university police officer.

The University Police are constantly busy keeping campus safe but on rare occasions they have a chance to sit back and eat a well-deserved snack.

“We get comments about donuts like other police, but we prefer bagels with cream cheese,” Lemmon said.