Almost a month after the April 2-3 disturbances, the clouds of confusion finally are dissipating to reveal the facts behind the police's plans and behavior. According to internal documents, the police prepared plans a month in advance to deal with unruly behavior from students.

In this case, history is not on the students' side. Past reactions to men's basketball losses are justification for the police to plan well in advance for the worst. Unfortunately, students have proven they are capable of destructive behavior and initiating large-scale mobs. Perhaps a month of planning planted a seed of anticipation in the minds of the police officers on duty that night. They might have been riled up in case the crowds were out of control.

These facts are not justification, however, for police to act without assessing the situation. In 1999, 300 tear-gas canisters were used for a crowd of 10,000 as compared to April 2-3, when 247 tear-gas canisters were used on a crowd of about 3,000. It seems very wrong that almost as many tear-gas canisters were used on a crowd of people that totaled less than half of the rioters from 1999.

In the police's plan for a potential riot, the officers on duty were broken down into five squads of 36. The plan stated each squad would have two grenadiers who are trained to deploy tear gas. This report conflicts with what State News reporters witnessed. It seemed to some that there were more officers firing chemical munitions than the plans specified.

The police were wise to plan for the worst. They also should have been prepared to drop their plan when the crowds turned out to be smaller and more celebratory than destructive. There is no reason for their aggressive behavior if they had properly gauged the situation they were dealing with, instead of carrying their monthlong anticipation through.

A follow-up report from a squad of police offers in the East Lansing neighborhoods admits that their chemical munitions made the crowd "extremely angry and complaining of the aggressive nature of the police department." This report illustrates that firing tear gas instigated student misbehavior.

Now that we have a clear picture of how the police prepared and implemented the plan without judging the situation accurately, it magnifies the inappropriate aggression the police conducted.