Is the Urbana Police Department incredibly bored? Maybe so. Perhaps the city is in dire need of revenue, and is forcing the cops to do the dirty work. These are the only two logical conclusions that can be drawn from the recent behavior of the UPD.

This afternoon, Urbana cops were stationed at the corner of Green and Goodwin (the border between Champaign and Urbana), eagerly awaiting jaywalkers to whom they could issue citations. Today's crosswalk-enforcers are representative of the up-tightening of the once laid-back town.

The past two weeks in Urbana have seen their share of police intervention. Party after party has been issued noise violation warnings, with the threat of $200 fines for repeat offenses within two months -- not to mention the countless drinking tickets that have been issued.

The law is clear; there's no complaining over that. What's troubling is that this behavior from Urbana police is unprecedented in prior years. It used to take a lot more that six kids out on a porch chatting about their summers to warrant police intervention.

And what's with these older people and families calling in to complain? You live in a college town. It's only logical to expect college behavior from your college neighbors. Even the old people have had at least thirty years to catch on that the University is expanding out into the neighborhood.