From the usual "I've only had two drinks" to the more creative excuses such as "I urinated on the window because it was dirty," the State College Police Department and Penn State University Police have heard it all.

On weekends, night shift officers run into a lot of students who violate either liquor or traffic violations, but there are some incidents officers say they will never forget.

"There is a myth that if you put a penny in your mouth, it will give a bad [Portable Breathalyzer Test] reading ... a guy didn't have any pennies on him so he stuck a bunch of nickels in his mouth," State College Police Sgt. Mark Argiro said.

Argiro added that the breathalyzer gave a reading anyway.

There was also another time when a man ate a whole tube of toothpaste to cover up the smell of alcohol on his breath, State College Police Sgt. Christian Fishel said.

"The person became ill and the officer could still smell the odor of the alcoholic beverage," he said.

However when students try to deny being intoxicated, police question them with current events questions such as the date and government leaders, Argiro said.

While he hasn't worked a night shift in four years, Argiro said he still remzembers a particular incident a few years back.

"A girl was so drunk that she thought Bush [senior] was still in office ... when Clinton was in office," Argiro said.

Sometimes it's not police finding trouble, but instead trouble running into police.

"Two officers in plain clothes were stopped by a man who offered them a bag of marijuana for a ride. They arrested him and gave him a ride to the police station," Fishel said.

There was also a time when a man was driving behind a police car and flashed his high beams to stop the officer, Fishel said.

"When the officer approached the car, the man said he was too drunk to drive and needed a ride home ... he was arrested for a DUI," he said.

Some students also agree that State College Police aren't out to get students on purpose or to target them for misbehavior.

"You have to do something insanely stupid to get caught [in State College]," Dan Shollenberger (sophomore-chemistry) said.

A lot of times international students have creative excuses, though most of the time it's because of the language barrier, Argiro said.

He said he once stopped an international student who ran a red light.

"The student said 'no, it was blue' ... obviously that's not one of the choices," Argiro said.

Another time, an international student was stopped for a traffic violation and when the officer asked the driver for her license, she handed the officer the passenger's license, Argiro said.

When the officer asked for her license she said "we share."

Penn State Police Officer Raymond Trexler said freshmen are very compliant in the fall semester, but then in the spring semester things change.

"Freshmen are like deer in headlights [in the fall semester] ... then in January they have caught on and are more elusive," Trexler said.

While law enforcement officials get interesting excuses from students every now and then, Argiro said he is amazed at the number of students who own up to the fact that they did something wrong.

"A large percentage will admit 'yes, I was drinking,'" Argiro said.

He added that lying about how much a student has drank is not going to do anything.

"It doesn't matter, one or five is going to get you a ticket," he said.

While some students do admit to their wrongdoings, they sometimes give a fake name, Trexler said.

"That seems to be very common ... someone will give us a fake name but then that adds to a misdemeanor charge," Trexler said.

A lot of times State College Police run into trouble when students celebrate reaching legal drinking age by taking 21 shots.

However, the problem is usually with the supposed designated sober friend of the birthday person, Argiro said.

"There are instances when you get very intoxicated slurring speech saying they're there to take care of the person," Argiro said. However, negotiation can be a bigger problem than incessant excuses, State College Police Officer Greg Koehle said.

"It's mostly just 'can you overlook this, it's not that big of a deal' type of things," Koehle said.

Argiro recalled an instance in which some minors were caught with drugs and tried to avoid getting arrested by arguing that marijuana should be legal.

Along with arguing, some students decide to start yelling obscenities. But, there are those that come up with creative excuses for their yelling as well, Fishel said.

"When asked why he was yelling the F word repeatedly, a man said 'I have Tourette Syndrome' ... he didn't," Fishel said.

Even though most officers enjoy creative or funny excuses from students, it won't get them out of trouble, Penn State University Officer Sam Ricciotti said.

"Why would you let one person go and not the other ... it's just not fair," Ricciotti said.