Eugene Police Department officials praised their force’s Halloween weekend performance and said that an enlarged law enforcement presence encountered a larger than usual, but ultimately manageable workload associated with weekend partying.
To assist in what the department assumed would be a busier than average weekend, Eugene police presence was accompanied by auxiliary elements of the Lane County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon State Police and University Department of Public Safety personnel in and around the immediate campus area.
The Springfield Police Department also made beds available in its jail to assist with potential overflow at the Lane County Jail in Eugene. EPD officials confirmed some of those beds were used, but would not say specifically how many.
Although police said that the weekend was relatively uneventful, especially in comparison with what they identified as a riot that occurred in the West University neighborhood on Sept. 24, the night wasn’t without it’s potentially violent or interesting incidents.
Eugene police said that on Saturday at least one suspect was found to be in possession of handgun and selling marijuana to a minor in close proximity to campus. The individual has been identified as Tony McKinley, 21.
Also on Saturday, a suspect dressed as the McDonald’s Hamburglar character fled from officers after being noticed with an open container of alcohol. The suspect was identified as 21-year-old Parker Christian Helland and additionally cited for littering and interfering with a police officer.
As of Sunday evening, all of the aforementioned law enforcement agencies had returned to normal operations and did not anticipate an out-of-the-ordinary night for the actual Halloween holiday, said EPD Lt. Tom Eichhorn.
“Tonight’s business as usual,” said Eichhorn on Sunday. “We had ample people for what we needed to do out their (Friday and Saturday).”
Eichhorn also said that the Oregon-USC football game may have played a role in keeping Saturday night activity down because much of the campus area watched the game inside, and that the heavy rain that ensued late Saturday night and early Sunday morning also played a role in keeping people indoors.
“I think the game kept people off of the streets, but after that finished up, people started to come out and we dealt with some of the usual alcohol related incidents,” Eichhorn said. “But the rain started up not long after that and it really opened up, it was raining hard — I mean I had some guys out on bikes out there and it wasn’t good for them.”
Eugene police released a list of incidents and arrests involved with partying in and around the University for Friday and Saturday night, but the Emerald has found inconsistencies in the data and cannot verify its absolute accuracy.
According to EPD’s information, most of the crimes reported this weekend were directly related to alcohol consumption. Most were open-container related, but minor in possession charges were also prevalent.
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Increased EPD presence for Halloween weekend effective in combatting partying
Daily Emerald
October 31, 2010
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