Ryan ChartrandPublic urination offenses often go hand in hand with the college experience, since this misdemeanor is almost always related to alcohol consumption.
The majority of the offenses are in downtown San Luis Obispo due to the popular bar scene.
And the price is pretty steep: the first offense costs $350, a second within the same year costs $750, and a third and any subsequent violations cost $1,000 each.
The myth that such violations can be counted as a point toward becoming a sex offender is untrue, as a public urination violation is not a sexual offense.
The hot spot for peeing in public is predictably the downtown bar scene, where a staggering 224 violations were issued to adult males over the last year. Only seven women have been issued citations for public urination in the past year; all of them were downtown.
Of the 36 citations issued to males in non-downtown areas, nine were violations issued by the University Police Department in areas surrounding campus, such as California, Foothill and Hathaway streets.
While there were no citations issued on campus within the past year, UPD officers acknowledge that the Cal Poly campus has not been immune from such offenses in the past.
“It’s really a matter of students going out and partying in the surrounding neighborhoods, then coming back and using the elevator in the parking garage on the way back,” UPD Chief Bill Watton said.
“It’s a far more infrequent thing around here as opposed to downtown, but it has happened and a few individuals have been cited for it. ”
Besides downtown, the only other non-campus area that has seen a number of these offenses is the area surrounding The Graduate, where seven citations were issued over the last year. Police explained that officers remain so vigilant in prosecuting the crime in the name of protecting downtown business owners’ property.
“The amount of police time spent is not nearly as significant as the time spent by downtown business owners cleaning up the stinky messes left on their windows and in their doorways,” said Capt. Dan Blanke of the San Luis Obispo Police Department.
“I once caught two guys standing shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the door to Victoria’s Secret, with both trying to urinate through the crack between the door and the jamb in order to get urine inside the business.”
Students who have been issued citations for the offense, however, hold a different viewpoint of how the offense could be best handled.
“I was just trying to argue that it wasn’t a big deal, considering I was in a back alleyway, urinating near some dumpsters,” nutrition senior Chris Zimmerman said.
“If I’d just been given a warning, I’d never have done it again. It’d be different if I was doing it in the middle of the street or something. I’m still mad about it – it was the worst $350 I’ve ever spent,” he said.
“All of the fines here are ridiculously high, especially considering the cops are driving around like the mafia in new Dodge Chargers, rubbing our faces in it,” civil engineering senior Matt Schumacher said.
“The $350 is ridiculous, especially when you add in court fees, time spent doing community service, and the frustration of having an incompetent public defender working for you. It’s not something I’m able to work off,” he said.
Whatever the opinion, police are cruising the streets and back alleys of downtown, in cruise cars or on bikes, so students would be best advised to wait it out.
“By any civilized measure, urinating on someone else’s property is a disgusting violation,” Blanke said.