Top Cops Vow Attention to Students' Boozy Behavior

Alcohol-fueled public disturbances involving Villanova University students have accompanied the beginning of the fall semester in nearby Lower Merion and Radnor neighborhoods, Lower Merion Police Superintendent Michael McGrath told the Bryn Mawr Civic Association Monday night.

McGrath and Radnor Chief Bill Colarulo addressed dozens of residents, several of whom expressed their concern that officers spend too little time in the neighborhoods around Bryn Mawr's bars on weekend nights. The chiefs sought to dispel that concern.

In addition to stepping up patrols, officers sometimes meet with bar owners, McGrath said: "They want to be good neighbors. They don't want that kind of nonsense either."

Colarulo said Villanova has been a good partner to law enforcement, too, but it could be quicker to suspend and expel students who get in legal trouble.

"The university's doing its best to work with us. We just have to hope they do more," Colarulo said.

Lower Merion Commissioner Scott Zelov said township officials have pushed for the university to send a shuttle to the bar area on weekend nights, but talks are ongoing.

Do you think police are responding too little or too much to student behavior near Bryn Mawr bars? Tell us in the comments.