The Eau Claire Police Department issued 72 ordinance citations and arrested three people during this year’s homecoming celebrations.
According to an Oct. 15 press release by the Eau Claire Police Department, those numbers are down compared to previous years.
In 2009, there were 185 ordinance citations and 17 criminal arrests, showing a dramatic drop in citations for the celebrations.
Lt. Tim Golden of the Eau Claire Police Department said a possible reason behind the low numbers regarding this year’s Homecoming citations was the preemptive contact with large parties.
He said he, along with UW-Eau Claire Dean of Students Joe Abhold and other party patrols, contacted parties that looked like they could get out of hand. When the patrol stopped by, they made it clear what
could happen.
“We made the preemptive contact to press on party holders the ramifications of their actions if the party got out of hand,” Golden said. “When we did that, they usually were more aware throughout
the day.”
Golden said he stressed to partiers that those who bring the most attention to themselves ultimately are the ones who get in trouble.
“Once you have people start urinating in neighbors’ yards, we’re going to get a call and that’s when citations may be handed out,” Golden said.
Education on alcohol awareness is not hard to find on campus. Chancellor Jim Schmidt sent out an email before the weekend’s festivities urging the student body to behave responsibly, as well.
Golden said he thinks the education on the campus and throughout the community is definitely a contributing factor to the reduction in citations and arrests.
Senior Emily Huber said she thinks, overall, students are getting smarter about dealing with their alcohol, but it doesn’t take away from her responsible celebrations.
“Homecoming is always a blast,” Huber said. “My favorite part about the whole thing was definitely having all the alumni back.”
Parties were scattered throughout the neighborhood directly around Water Street for the majority of Saturday and Mack Jenz said the camaraderie he saw throughout the day made him want to come to UW-Eau Claire.
He said everybody was super welcoming to him and a few friends who were visiting one of the residents of the party.
“This is so much fun, it seems like everybody is in the best mood,” Jenz said. “The weather is nice, I really just wish I went to school here for days like these.”