The SMU Boulevard is alive on game day with swarms of students, fans and alumni. The air smells of barbecue and beer. Large tents line the streets with fraternity and sorority flags hanging, as well as students visiting with friends.

Amid the bustle, Joey Perez cruises the Boulevard. As he walks around, some students call out his name like he’s an old friend. But others turn the opposite way or avert their eyes.

Perez is an SMU police officer. Patrolling and writing up tickets on game day is part of his job. He scans the sea of people for students who are drinking and looking nervous or fidgety. Perez targets this type of activity.

“We deal with the one percent,” he said. “If they know they are 21 then they are glad to be asked for their ID. It’s the ones who aren’t that are the problem.”

Perez is a self-described Jack of all trades, master of none. He’s worked at SMU for nine years. Before that, he was a county sheriff in Corpus Christi for four years. Now he has an administration position within the SMU PD.

On the job, he is generally a go-with-the-flow kind of guy and can joke with the best of them. Drunken students will beg him to put them in handcuffs, others want him to be their sober driver. One student on the Boulevard recently even asked Perez to watch him chug a beer.

Except for the underage drinking, the Boulevard is a great and nice atmosphere, Perez said. Besides joking and visiting with students, he keeps a close watch on the crowd.

“If they are 21 then they are out having a good time and I am part of it, but it only takes a second to change that,” Perez said. “I can’t be a policeman and a friend. I gotta be either or.”

SMU juniors David Dines and Peter Mingos experienced Perez flipping the switch. Both were caught drinking underage while on the Boulevard recently. Along with a $160 fine, the two will have to attend a University Park court hearing and report to an SMU judicial hearing officer.

Perez saw Mingos put his cup down behind a large, black speaker, trying not to be noticed. That action caught the officer’s attention. Mingos justified his behavior by saying that his parents were coming. Texas law states that people under 21 are able to drink if their parent provides alcohol for them, as long as they are somewhere in the vicinity.

Perez didn’t buy his excuse, because Mingos’ parents weren’t with him. Mingos simply shrugged off the ticket and was pretty confident that he would be able to get out of it easily.

“Once my parents get here I’m gonna grab another beer,” he said.

Perez doesn’t share Mingos’ optimism. He found students can’t really do anything when they are being reprimanded by the SMU judicial system because of the rules outlined in the Student Code of Conduct.

The code states specific rules outlining the use of alcohol on campus. It states only persons who are of legal drinking age are allowed to consume alcohol on the Boulevard, with an exception if the student’s parents are present.

The university recognizes state and local liquor laws and bases the rules outlined in the Student Code of Conduct on them.

Dines’ take on the Boulevard and underage drinking is that SMU has its priorities mixed up. While Perez was writing his ticket, Dines was very vocal about his situation. He said that he wanted the university to change its policies about drinking on the Boulevard.

“If they want kids to stop getting f***ed up they should change their policy,” Dines said.

Several of Dines’ fraternity brothers were laughing and putting in their two cents while he received the ticket. Many of them agree with what he had to say.

One brother said, “It’s like the cops are out to get us.”

For Dines, the Boulevard can’t exist without underage drinking. He said if the university wants to promote the Boulevard, they should allow alcohol.

“I think it is f***ing ridiculous and outrageous for us to get in trouble on the Boulevard,” Dines said.

Mingos would agree. Pretty much everyone drinks underage on the Boulevard because it’s game day, he said.

One of Dines’ fraternity brothers, Matt Bleakley, a 21-year-old junior, tried to get him to calm down. Bleakley said he thought underage drinking was a problem with our culture.

“When kids get to college it is like a right of passage for them,” he said. “There are no restrictions.”

Bleakley said a majority of the kids come to the Boulevard to drink. Bleakley, like Dines, sees a need for change in university policy.

Because SMU is located in the “dry” city of University Park there are specific rules for tailgating on the Boulevard. All students, faculty and alumni that are of legal drinking age must have a wristband to drink on the Boulevard.

Aramark is a division within SMU that deals with third party vendors and ID checks on the Boulevard. To obtain a wristband, students must show their driver’s license to qualified employees. The workers are trained to look for certain triggers that are associated with fake IDs.

Perez said students are hip to the wristband situation. He knows students find ways to get around the rules. In his opinion, there were too many wristbands at the recent SMU vs. UNT tailgate.

One student Perez confronted was holding a beer without a wristband. She quickly turned away and set down the drink. When Perez approached her, he asked for the truth. Since she was honest, he didn’t write her a ticket.

Perez isn’t out to get students. He often sees more violations than he gives out tickets.

When he does write someone up they mostly cooperate. Dines and Mingos were the exception, Perez said. He wasn’t shocked that they were difficult to handle. Perez found it is part of the job and he has to expect it.

“It did upset me when [Dines] started talking like that and I went into go mode,” Perez said. “He was caught and there is nothing he could have done about it.”

Sometimes Perez has to jump in to a situation, take control and get a bit rough. He has to use what he calls “the goodies on his belt,” to keep the situation under control, such as pepper spray or handcuffs. But for him all the action is really just for the student’s own safety.

“There is a reason I have been here as long as I have,” Perez said.

At heart, Perez said he is just a jokester. He likes being one of the guys and enjoys the atmosphere of the Boulevard, even if his experience is a bit different.

“Whenever the Boulevard does come around, I myself am excited just like everyone else,” Perez said. “I am there doing my job and having fun at the same time.”