Contest Urges Students to Party Easy : Alcohol: UCLA wins against traditional rival USC in events calling attention to the need for designated drivers.

The last time the police rolled in force onto the UCLA campus was to break up a student protest and arrest 99 demonstrators who had taken over the faculty center.

But that was last week.

On Thursday the police were back, red lights flashing and sirens blaring. This time, though, the line of patrol cars was carrying rival USC students into the heart of the UCLA campus.

As a lunchtime crowd of stunned UCLA students watched, officers stopped next to the famed Bruin statue and redshirted Trojans stepped out to the sound of the USC fight song blaring from loudspeakers.

The bizarre noon spectacle was part of a campaign by police and safety groups to promote the use of designated drivers during the upcoming end-of-school party season.

On a lawn behind the statue, USC and UCLA students competed in relay-type events, such as running an obstacle course backward while carrying cups of water. The competition simulated the lack of coordination and sloppiness that comes with drunkenness.

Off-campus restaurants and student hangouts have begun encouraging groups of patrons to include nondrinkers who can drive intoxicated friends home, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Steven Rose said. He helped coordinate the contest with Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, Downey police officers, state Alcoholic Beverage Control agents and the California Highway Patrol.

Thursday’s police arrival conjured up memories of the May 11 incident for some. More than 200 Los Angeles police officers were called to help campus police break up a protest in which students called for a separate Chicano studies department.

As police cars pulled up this time, a group of about 100 unsuspecting campus workers happened to be gathering next to the Bruin statue for a march to protest pay and benefit cuts.

“I hope the employees union doesn’t think we’re here for them,” Downey Police Officer Paul Koppes said.

Students were also relieved to learn the reason for the police activity.

“I kind of freaked out when I saw all the black-and-whites,” said Kash Sen, a 19-year-old computer science major. Many students were opposed to last week’s arrests, he said.

“Seeing cops interact with students in a positive way is very good,” Sen said.

Other UCLA students urged police to take positive steps of another kind after spying USC rivals riding through the campus in the patrol cars.

“Take ‘em on to jail!” yelled freshman Denny Kung, 18, a biology major. “I hope you have the cuffs on them.”

Maynao Mouanoutoua, 21, an English major, laughed when she peered into the back seat of a patrol car. “This is exactly where USC students belong!” she shouted.

USC students did not take it sitting down, however.

“Are you enrolled in any of those classes that have a thousand people, where you have to bring your own chair?” Trojan psychology major Roy Nwaisser, 21, yelled at Mouanoutoua.

Fritz Battcher, a USC student in international relations, doused UCLA onlooker Josh Merritt with water after winning a three-legged relay race. But Battcher’s team lost to the Bruins 3 to 2 in the final tally.

“I’ll get revenge,” vowed a sopping Merritt, 20, a math student.

“I’m not worried,” Battcher, 21, replied. “Look at all the cops around here.”