College students to patrol bar district

Peers to walk downtown routes and help youths who might be drunk

Peers to walk downtown routes and help youths who might be drunk

College student volunteers in bright yellow windbreakers will take to the streets in downtown Charleston this weekend to help their peers avoid problems associated with alcohol and crime.

The new Peer Assistance Leadership program is a collaboration between the College of Charleston and the Charleston Police Department. Students in teams of four will walk defined routes in two downtown areas between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. tonight and Saturday night. The areas are home to bars where students frequently drink.

Each weekend night, one team will walk along King Street from Cannon Street to Wentworth Street. Another will walk around an area bordered by Cumberland, Meeting, East Bay and Market streets.

The volunteers will offer help to young people who might be drunk and could possibly become targets of street crime, injure themselves or cause a disturbance in the neighborhoods surrounding the college.

Whitney Hinds, president of the Student Government Association and one of the volunteers, said it's important for students to protect each other. "Once something tragic happens to one of our peers, you can't take that back," she said.

Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen, one of the founders of the program, so strongly supports it that he trained the first group of student volunteers on Saturday.

The students are not acting as police,

Mullen said. They're there to educate, assist and, if necessary, intervene. For instance, he said, they might give a staggering student a taxi voucher so he won't drive. Or they might walk with someone who's walking alone at night.

"If (the police) intervene, it's a formal intervention," Mullen said.

But if students can help their peers to be safe, "the police don't have to get involved," he said.

Student volunteers will meet with police officers before and after their shifts, and will carry communication devices so they can contact police in an emergency, he said. The officers working with the program requested the assignment, he said, and they strongly support the volunteers.

Mullen said the program will help avoid an "us-against-them mentality" between the student body and the police. And, he added, students who have been drinking might avoid the police even if they need help, but they likely will feel more comfortable turning to their peers for assistance.

Evelyn Nadel, associate dean of students at the College of Charleston, said 28 students participated in the training. They came from the college, Charleston Southern University and The Citadel.

Citadel media relations coordinator Charlene Gunnells said some cadets participated in the training and will meet soon with administrators about allowing exceptions to school rules. Cadets are required to stay in uniform and abide by a curfew, so any exceptions to college rules would have to be approved, she said.

Nadel said students have volunteered for myriad reasons. Some simply want to do community service while others have been touched by alcohol-related tragedies.

College of Charleston junior Peter Neiger, who's one of the volunteers, said he worked as bouncer at a bar before returning to college and saw young people in many dangerous situations.

"I've seen the negative, how bad it can really get," he said. "We just want to make sure students get home in one piece."

Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or dknich@postandcourier.com.