Despite a significant decrease in the number of police officers at this year’s Sun God Festival, arrest and citation levels remained fairly consistent with last year’s, according to reports compiled by the UCSD Police Department.
Of the 64 individuals arrested on May 15, 54 were taken straight to a detoxification facility located inside RIMAC Arena. The remaining 10 arrestees ‘mdash; most of whom were arrested because they either refused to cooperate with police or were in possession of drugs ‘mdash; were taken to jail, according to UCSD Police Department Sergeant Doug O’Dell.
The number of uniformed officers at the festival dropped by roughly 36 percent from last year. While 77 officers patrolled campus during the 2008 festival, there were only 45 officers at this year’s event, due in part to last-minute cancellations by officers unable to commit to their shifts, O’Dell said.
At last year’s festival, 57 individuals were taken into police custody. O’Dell said that, as in previous years, the majority of the arrests made at the 2009 event had to do with alcohol consumption and public intoxication.
‘Just about every arrest we made was somehow alcohol-related,’ he said. ‘Just based on that, I think you could draw the conclusion that if there was less alcohol use, there would be less citations and there would be less arrests.’
In addition, 94 citations were issued throughout the day, slightly down from the 105 citations issued at the 2008 festival.
According to O’Dell, the majority of the arrests occurred during the event’s later hours, a variation from previous years in which arrests were distributed more equally throughout the day.
‘We didn’t make our first arrest until 4 p.m.,’ O’Dell said. ‘It was unusual. From 4 p.m. on, we were really busy. I don’t know if that’s an anomaly or if that’s going to hold true for future festivals. We’ll just have to wait and see.’
In addition to the UCSD police officers present at the event, the UC Riverside, UC Irvine and San Diego State University police departments also supplied personnel.
According to Associate Vice President of Concerts and Events Garrett Berg, the police presence at the festival was planned so that fewer officers would be on patrol during the daylight hours, while more were present after dark.
‘Last year, when a lot of students arrived at the festival, their biggest complaint was that there were so many cops at RIMAC,’ Berg said. ‘We really wanted to strive to get rid of that feeling altogether.’
O’Dell said the redistribution of officers provided for a more efficient use of security resources.
‘We staffed heavy during the times where we traditionally had the highest level of activity and staffed lighter during the times when we traditionally had less activity,’ he said. ‘In other words, we tried to staff more appropriately to the needs of the festival.’
Arrests at the 2008 and 2009 festivals were significantly fewer than those recorded at the 2007 festival, where police issued 285 citations and took 76 individuals into custody.
Following the 2007 Sun God Festival, administrators insisted on creating a safer event. Its new format localizes all the day’s activities on to RIMAC Field, coralling festivalgoers in a single area.
Berg said the relatively low arrest levels reported in 2008 and 2009 demonstrate the festival’s potential for continued growth.
‘A lot of the fears that came with the old format are gone now,’ Berg said. ‘This year we had a much bigger crowd, much bigger acts’shy;’shy; ‘mdash; bigger excitement all around. That the [arrest] numbers stayed the same [as last year] basically shows that the festival can continue to grow and continue to be really exciting without any of the major problems that haunted us in the past.’
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