Police say Welcome Weekend violations continue to decline
A group of girls walks down the sidewalk as a police car patrols Main Street on Welcome Weekend, Saturday, Aug. 28.
Over the past five years, ‘Welcome Weekend’ arrests and citations have steadily decreased. This year saw yet another string of mild nights.
Law enforcement responded to 178 calls between 7 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 26 to 7 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 29 according to data the Mount Pleasant Police Department provided Central Michigan Life Wednesday.
Of those calls, police wrote citations for 10 open intoxicants, three minor-in-possession and one nuisance party.
Last year, police cited four people for hosting nuisance parties, seven people for open intoxicants and two for minors in possession.
"From a crime perspective, it was very minimal," Central Michigan University Police Department Lt. Mike Sienkiewicz said. "There was a lot of people out and about, but we didn't write any tickets on campus this weekend."
Officials are unsure if COVID-19 still had any lingering effects on the party scene.
In addition to people being cautious, Officer Sienkiewicz said the vaccination rate may have also affected partying. CMUPD had to remind very few people of campus policies for COVID-19.
From the city police perspective, MPPD Officer Autumn Balcom said she thinks everyone is doing their part to keep cases down and gatherings small.
“We will continue to enforce all local city ordinances and obviously monitor what the CDC recommends, as far as COVID goes,” she said.
Looking at the weekend as a whole, officers believe Saturday and Friday had the most foot traffic. They expect the trend of low citations to continue. Officer Sienkiewicz said it was refreshing to see students back and mingling on campus.
"We exist for the students and their success," he said. "It's good to see everyone back."
