It may not be your typical lecture hall, but on Monday afternoons, the university police station becomes home to a small class whose main assignment is to create new ways to educate students on alcohol law.

Nancy Greenstein, UCPD spokeswoman, teaches a campaign for alcohol awareness class. The class was created from a grant UCPD participates in, and the grant provides a small amount of funding for universities to educate and enforce alcohol law.

“This year, we are making an exceptional effort to ensure that we have a strong educational program about alcohol,” said Greenstein.
The class is mainly comprised of five incoming first-year students from the College Summer Institute that were assigned to the police department for a civic engagement project.

Older students also participated in the program, mainly serving as peer mentors.

Lea Heller, a third-year physiological sciences student and director of Student Health Advocates, used her knowledge from previous public health classes to help teach alcohol statistics to the class.

The program allows UCPD to increase its outreach efforts as students collaborate with officers to brainstorm the best ways to disseminate their new knowledge to their peers.

But the main goal of the class is to develop a safety handout for UCLA students, Heller said.
She added that the incoming first-years were particularly helpful in coming up with ideas.

“It’s good to pick their brains for what works because they know what is effective with their peers,” Greenstein said. “They know the best ways to reach students on Facebook and in the residential halls.”

Similarly, Jin Kim, a second-year biochemistry student and member of Student Health Advocates, said he was impressed with the students’ brainstorming creativity.

“They had really different ideas than what we’re used to, like wallet-sized information cards, candy wrappers with alcohol facts, Facebook events and competition quiz games,” he said.
While Kim said he initially felt intimidated to be in the police department, he quickly got used to it.

“It’s really the appropriate setting to have this class,” he said. “We get to see how they, the officers, see students. It’s really informative, and I felt connected.”

Kim added that the class felt more like a seminar than a lecture since Greenstein brought in officers to talk about alcohol safety. He also said the class used special goggles to see how alcohol blurs vision.

All of the educational and outreach programs will help to prepare for the start of school, when UCPD will enforce a stricter approach to underage drinking.
To accomplish this, the plan is to coordinate with the Office of Residential Life and hand out flyers in the dorm areas, Heller said.

UCPD will also have a booth at the activities fair.
These programs are more extensive and far-reaching than those of previous years, Greenstein said, adding that the goal is education before enforcement.

“New students go out and may not be familiar with the laws,” Greenstein said. “These programs should help students understand the law and abide by it.”