Homeless and loitering

On Monday at 9:27 p.m. the UW-Eau Claire campus police were dispatched to a check person inside of the Human Sciences and Services Building on campus.

The complainant came from a professor who worked in the building, who advised the Communication Center that the subject wasn’t doing anything wrong other than just laying down on a bench in front of the entrance area of the building and appeared to be homeless.

According to the report, three officers arrived at the scene to assist where they made contact with the male subject.

The officers informed the man that they had received a call and wanted to make sure he was okay, which the subject confirmed that he was.

The subject asked the officers if he was under arrest and the officers said he was not in any trouble and they just wanted to ask him some questions.

According to the report, the homeless man said that he had stopped in the building to lie down and warm up.

The officers detected that the man was homeless due to multiple layers of clothing underneath his sweater. They asked him if he stays at the Sojourner House in town and the man told them that he could not stay there.

Following continued questions about staying at the house, the subject said he was uncomfortable.  According to the report, the subject wanted to be left alone because he didn’t like talking to cops.

The officer informed the man that if he didn’t want to talk to more officers, he should not return to the building because they would continue to get called if he showed up again.

The homeless man then left the building and began walking westbound on Water Street.

The officer contacted the professor who made the call to inform him about the situation. The professor said he debated whether he should call the police or not but erred on the side of caution and decided to call due to the fact that some female students were working late in the building and he wanted to make sure they would be safe.

The professor also decided to call campus police about the homeless man to make sure that he wasn’t in need of any help.

The officer thanked the professor for his call and encouraged him to call in the future if he ever had any concerns.

Glossy eyes

On Sunday Jan. 1 at 3:22 p.m. campus police arrived at Bridgman Hall regarding the odor of burnt marijuana coming from a dorm room located near the hall director’s apartment and office.

The first officer on scene detected a strong smell of men’s cologne near the room in question.

According to the report, the officer knocked on the dorm room door asking for consent to enter the room to which a male student opened the door and said, “It wasn’t a good time.”

The officer proceeded to explain the complaint to the male subject, who then denied smoking marijuana in the room.

When the officer asked him why someone would suspect the odor was coming from his room, he replied it was because his roommate had been caught smoking marijuana in the past.

The subject stated that his roommate was not present and that it was just himself in the room at the moment.

The officer asked the student when the last time he smoked marijuana was and he said he had at home during winter break.  The officer then asked, for the last time, if he or his roommate smoked in the dorm room. The student insisted they had never smoked marijuana in their room.

The subject continued to deny the officer access to his room even after the officer explained multiple times that his cooperation would allow him to determine the validity of the complaint.

According to the report, the student said he didn’t want the officer to enter his room because his roommate would not want the police in their room.

While speaking to the subject, the officer noticed he appeared lethargic and his eyes were glossy and bloodshot in appearance, according to the police report. When the officer asked him why his eyes appeared that way, he stated that is was because he had been staring at a video screen.

Prior to clearing the premise, the officer informed the student that he suspected he had been smoking marijuana and informed him that their conversation was being recorded with his body worn camera and that his report would be shared with campus housing to assist them with their investigation into his conduct.