SAN DIEGO — Neighbors who live near students from San Diego State University say parties are becoming more frequent with larger crowds and not much is being done about it. The University has set COVID-19 policies asking students not to gather in large crowds and have issued hundreds of citations since the pandemic began.
One neighbor tells CBS 8 the issue of loud parties isn’t new for the area but now the parties are happening at any time of the day and it’s happening so much, that San Diego Police can’t get to them all.
“When five or six neighbors are all saying ‘Do you hear that? Do you hear that?’ and there’s hundreds of kids in a backyard, then that’s too much,” said Susan Hopps-Tatum, who lives near SDSU.
Hopps-Tatum took photos of a party Saturday on Campanile Drive where some SDSU students live. She says she called San Diego Police twice about the noise.
“The police intake officer with San Diego PD was very kind. He said we have numerous calls for this same party, but we are so inundated with parties in the college area right now, that I can pretty much tell you, officers will not respond,” Hopps-Tatum said.
Hopps-Tatum says the parties can happen any time, day or night. San Diego Police have jurisdiction over the homes occupied by students who live off-campus and she says when San Diego Police can’t respond, SDSU Campus Police should be able to step in.
“I don’t know if there’s a solution. If San Diego State PD and San Diego Police Dept could agree on a jurisdictional boundary beyond the campus footprint, that would go a long way into helping the community,” Hopps-Tatum said.
The University says from January 1 to March 13, they’ve contacted 215 people about violating COVID-19 policies, but there’s no record of suspensions. Last semester, 1,400 citations were issued, resulting in 55 suspensions for violating COVID-19 restrictions.
Hopps-Tatum says fines can be issued to students and home owners but police have to issue citations twice in 30 days and that doesn’t happen very often.
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