200 charges laid during first two weeks of Project Safe Semester

Police and bylaw officers have laid 200 charges in the first two weeks of Project Safe Semester, which is meant to remind university and college students to be safe and smart when it comes to leisure time.

The annual project started on Aug. 27. Ittargets the university area in Waterloo and the neighbourhood around Conestoga College in Kitchener.

Police say 65 charges were laid in the first week, and 135 charges were laid in the second week.

These charges include:

• Nine criminal charges.
• 84 Liquor Licence Act charges.
• 89 Highway Traffic Act charges.
• 14 trespassingcharges.
• Three bylaw infractions.
• One charge under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Police say the criminal charges include: one count of assault, one count of possession under $5,000, four counts of possession of an identity document, two counts of possession of a credit card, and breach of probation.

Not included in those charges is one count of arson and one count of mischief under $5,000 against a 17-year-old from Brampton. Those charges were laid earlier this week in relation to a street party on Ezra Avenue that saw furniture set on fire.

In 2018, police said 115 charges in the first week and 219 in the second week. Over the course of the full four weeks, police laid 621 charges. That was up from 2017 when 278 charges were laid in total.

Chief Bryan Larkin said in the release the goal of the project is "not only discourage unlawful behaviour, but to encourage safe and respectable behaviour. We want students to have fun, but we want them to have fun in a safe and respectable manner."