Senior Constable John Woodhouse said that in his more than 10-year career as the campus police officer, he had never had a year where couches all survived the return of students.
"No reported couch fires, hardly any serious incidents . . . Overall, the behaviour from students has been excellent," Snr Const Woodhouse said.
Music was cut off by 12 and 1am with no issues, people dispersed as they were supposed to without incident and the behaviour was just "getting better and better each year".
He said it was not just police and the university appreciating the better behaviour, but also the students themselves.
"I think once the new cohort of students comes in, the culture slowly changes — the student behaviour is a result of the police, Campus Watch, the university and everyone getting on board with the organisation of these parties.
"They know what the boundaries are, they know what's required, and the students get on board."
As things got safer, broken glass glittering all over the Castle St asphalt still remained a problem.
While police did encourage the use of cans, the price at the checkout usually won over recommendations from police, and often alcohol encased in glass was the cheaper of the options available.
"The structure of the modern beer bottle doesn’t seem to hold together very well — any time that someone might kick it with their foot, intentionally or unintentionally, they'll break."
Back in the day, said beer bottles were projectiles lobbed into a crowd, however now they were collateral damage of a cheap, good time.
While students were moderately model citizens, a few under-18s and secondary schoolers did stick out like a sore thumb.
Snr Const Woodhouse said several teenagers were removed by police under the Children and Young Persons Section 48 for their welfare, and they were usually easy enough to pick from the crowd.
He said all students living on Castle St were engaged prior to the night and there were "no arguments".
"We talk about that large parties in small flats is an unsafe environment, there’s more disorder, there's more damage, there's more assaults, and it's altogether more dangerous, so for most of these ones their flats are locked up and it’s all outside . . . The students understand."
