Soaring numbers of citations for underage drinking, noise and drunken driving in East Lansing this year are revealing the extent of the city's crackdown on noise and disruptive behavior.

With three months remaining in the year, East Lansing police say they already have issued about 800 underage drinking citations, a sharp increase from last year's 686.

Police have issued enough noise citations to meet last year's total of 558 - including 11 violations under the city's stiffened policy on party noise. And drunken driving arrests are nearly even with last year's 252.

As a component of noise concerns that arose last fall, East Lansing police Capt. Juli Liebler said officers intensified enforcement of city's rules on disruptive behavior.

"Enforcement is one way to try and change behavior," she said. "We are obviously having an impact on more people's lives."

East Lansing Mayor Mark Meadows said students shouldn't be surprised officers are clamping down on offenders.

"In the long run, if you think you are going to violate the law, you better be prepared for the consequences," he said.

Meadows said recommendations to increase enforcement to reduce noise in the city were reviewed and supported by ASMSU, MSU's undergraduate student government, and the University Student Commission.

And the majority of complaints that trigger citations are the result of student-initiated calls, he said.

Kevin Glandon, vice-chairperson for external affairs for ASMSU's Student Assembly, said student leaders advocated for better cooperation between police and students, not for more citations.

"If you asked student leaders if police should go around writing more tickets, they probably would have said 'No,'" Glandon said. "We didn't want them to say, 'We'll go buck wild writing tickets for everyone.'"

Zoology junior Kristin Baes, who received a minor in possession citation last month, said the city's toughened approach is an "infringement on freedom."

"The behavior hasn't changed much," said Baes, who was cited during a party at her Ann Street house. "People are still doing the same stuff as last year."

Baes, who claims she was unfairly targeted for the MIP, said students "should have the chance to reevaluate this entire noise policy and the new policies that are going underneath it."

On Thursday, ASMSU representatives reviewed a statistical comparison on citations issued during each of the last 10 years.

"I'm not surprised that there is a fair amount this year," Glandon said. "People have been very concerned with it, so police have been directed to crackdown."

Glandon said the increase in citations is no coincidence in light of the city's aggressive approach to countering party noise.

Student leaders said they felt "sidestepped" in the process that led to the party-noise policy that calls for a minimum of three days in jail and fines up to $1,000 for the most severe offenders.

In response, students are petitioning officials for a referendum on the policy that would lead to a citywide vote.

On Sept. 2, East Lansing City Council adopted the ordinance targeted at deterring loud and disruptive parties. During the first four weekends of the policy, police cited hosts of four parties.

"If you look at the noise recommendations, we looked at every solution we could find," Liebler said. "Noise enforcement creates the most conversation and conflict because people don't like it."

But even with tightened enforcement, Liebler said police can only cite a small percentage of the actual offenders.

"Even if we do reach 1,000 (MIPS), that is still a very minuscule amount compared to the number of MIPs out there on any given weekend," Liebler said. "Only the people that draw attention to themselves in an egregious manner typically get a ticket."

Liebler doesn't expect dramatic increases during the final three months of the year because cold weather typically keeps people indoors.

"The colder the weather gets, the less enforcement that we take because the people are inside and there isn't as much foot traffic or noise," she said.

Steve Eder can be reached at ederstev@msu.edu.