Howl-related arrests rose this year
The Howl is over, but for some people the consequences of the pre-Halloween night will last longer.
During the party, Utah State University Police arrested 16 people and most of them were minors in possession of alcohol.
This number has more than doubled in number since last year’s arrests at the same party, Lt. Shane Sessions, of USU Police, said.
To avoid security problems at the Howl, USU Police employed the help of 10 Logan City Police Department officers. Capt. Russ Roper of Logan Police, was at the Howl and said the party had no major problems.
“The only problem was that some people had way too much alcohol,” he said, “The only arrest I made was an underage girl that was so drunk she could barely walk.”
Roper said the officers had to call an ambulance to take a male to the hospital, due to the abuse of alcohol. However, the police had control of the situation, he said.
“If you think about it, it wasn’t bad at all. From 6,000 tickets sold, we only had problems with 16 people,” he said.
Roper said all arrests made by the Logan Police were handed over to USU Police so that they could take care of those people. He said if the minors are 18 years old or older, they don’t need to be sent to the police station, they just receive a ticket and a “ride home.”
Of the 16 arrests, 10 were minors in possession of alcohol, two were arrested by intoxication, one for disorderly conduct, one for lewdness (vulgar behavior) and two for having an open container, Sessions said. According to the USU Police Web site, the fines for those misdemeanors vary from $50 for disorderly conduct to $460 for minors in possession of alcohol. Last year, seven people were arrested all for underage drinking, he said.
For the rest of the weekend, Roper said there were no more problems than usual.
“We receive some calls for noise complaints and got some underage people drinking, but nothing out of the ordinary,” he said.
Roper said what made this year’s after parties less problematic was the work the fraternities did.
“We worked with the fraternities this year and they cooperated a lot. There were no sponsored events and after the Howl people had nothing else to do but to go home,” he said.
In the past, Logan Police have received a lot of complaints about the fraternity parties after the Howl, he said. Those parties would go on all night, Roper said, and people wouldn’t stop drinking, and the more they’d drink the louder and rowdier they’d get.
Rob Connors, IFC president of the Greek Council, said the fraternities on campus are trying to change their reputation, especially in connection with the Howl.
Connors said the fraternities now have an open communication with the city police, and together they are working on liability issues and how to control the crowd.
“The fraternities are still considered a potential spot for problems,” he said. “We are working with the police to change that.”
Roper said this is the largest party on campus and just for the number of people that come, the probability of alcohol related problems is bigger.
The Logan Police said it considers that the party went very peacefully from its beginning to end, he said.
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