The police say high school pupils have been cruising the student quarter, crashing parties and intimidating students.
"It's becoming a bit more of an alarming trend," Senior Sergeant Gavin Briggs, of North Dunedin, said.
One student told police that walking home alone on Castle St recently she had had to run into the nearest flat after becoming so intimidated by a carload of high school-aged people she was concerned for her safety.
Snr Sgt Briggs said similar reports of intimidation had been received and students were increasingly reporting to Campus Watch and the police incidents of high school pupils cruising Castle, Dundas and Leith Sts looking for parties, then joining them uninvited.
And when they found a party, the pupils would send text messages to their friends and soon a crowd of other high school-aged people would join the party, too.
"We want to stop this before students start taking matters into their own hands and there are assaults or similar."
Police had noticed high school pupils were taking part in bigger events in the area for some time.
Some were arrested at recent events in the student quarter, including the Hyde St keg party and a Re-Orientation party in Castle St.
At least two high school pupils were arrested during the Undie 500 disorder in 2009.
It was clear alcohol was being consumed by the young people, and Snr Sgt Briggs questioned where they had got it from given most were probably under-age.
Otago University Students' Association president Harriet Geoghegan said she had heard reports of increasing numbers of high school pupils coming into the student quarter.
This year, Hyde St residents especially had noticed more high school pupils coming into their street when parties were on and "standing in the middle of the street trying to get involved", she said.
"They [the students] find it quite strange and a little irritating."
"The pupils could be targeting student flats because they were under-age and unable to get into a bar in "town", she said.
If students discovered people they did not know at their parties, they should ask them to leave and call police or Campus Watch to report them, Ms Geoghegan said.
Snr Sgt Briggs warned that police would be patrolling the area more and could stop cars, checking for behaviour such as drinking in a public place and breaching licence conditions.
Anyone caught could face fines of up to $400 and would be reported to their schools.
"They are becoming more involved in the student area and it is not the sort of behaviour we would encourage."
At this stage, it was not clear which particular schools' pupils were involved, he said.
Otago Secondary Principals' Association president Julie Anderson last night said she was unaware of the issue, so could not comment.
