Between arrests, citations, keg tracking and investigating burglaries, Isla Vista Foot Patrol officers were busy Friday and Saturday nights as students and partygoers returned to Del Playa Drive for the first weekend of UCSB’s academic year.

Although the final statistics for arrests and citations were not compiled as of Sunday afternoon, senior deputy Sandra Brown said there were an average of 80 arrests both Friday and Saturday nights. The IVFP has increased its enforcement efforts for the beginning of Fall Quarter and will continue to do so until after Halloween. This is part of the “fall offensive” the IVFP conducts every year to set the tone for freshmen venturing into I.V. for the first time.

“We try to get [freshmen] squared away early,” Brown said. “Otherwise I can’t imagine what it would be like out there.”

Although UCSB has only been in session for two days, the “fall offensive” began three weeks ago to include Santa Barbara City College students, who started school on Aug. 30.

“We’ve been working overtime for the past few weeks and we’ve been increasing the number of deputies out there each night,” Brown said.

The hours of overtime and extra deputies on duty are in addition to the $150,000 in state grants dedicated to increased enforcement of alcohol laws, specifically pertaining to keg parties. This weekend alone, foot patrol officers seized over 25 kegs.

Due to the grant money, the IVFP now has the resources to track a keg back to the person who purchased it and issue a citation if the keg was being used to serve alcohol to minors – a misdemeanor violation that carries a mandatory fine of $3,076. Of the kegs seized this weekend, Brown said not all of their purchasers were cited for furnishing alcohol to minors. She said officers seized some of the kegs because they were in violation of county ordinances prohibiting kegs from being visible from the street.

The IVFP has also been sending undercover officers to local businesses and issuing citations for selling alcohol to minors.

“We will be investigating any off-sale or on-sale premises whose business is affected by students,” Brown said.

In addition to seizing kegs and citing minors in possession, IVFP officers were busy investigating numerous burglaries that occurred between Sept. 22 and 23. On the 6600 block of DP, an unknown suspect entered a house through an open window and stole a digital camera, a wristwatch, a camcorder and a large amount of change. On the 6700 block of DP someone entered a house through an open sliding-glass door, took a set of car keys that had been placed on a table and stole the car out of the driveway.

There was also a string of burglaries on the 6600 block of Sue

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