The officer may think that being a hardazz for a few nights at the beginning of the quarter will pay big dividends if word of mouth spreads around campus that "these cops aren't messin' around... they're not gonna let
anything go."
Just another version of what Jeff said... this is this officer's version of putting out
his vibe.
Tell your son to pick his friends carefully... hey, what's the fun in THAT?... just kidding... he probably already picks carefully... and when he can, it's probably a good idea to walk across campus with one or two other people so in a similar situation, it's not just his word against the cops.