Police will explain their new use of force policy in celebratory events to university and city leaders at Tuesday's Celebrations Committee meeting.

Both East Lansing and MSU police plan to practice the new policy, which requires extra steps that need to be taken before using chemical munitions, East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said, adding its their hope that no one will even see an officer in riot gear during March Madness festivities.

"Last time around, officers were wearing helmets and in riot gear before anything even started," Wibert said of the April 2-3 disturbances. "This time around people are not going to see helmets until things get out of hand or out of control."

About 50 people are listed as members of the Celebrations Committee, which was established in 2003. It was revamped this year, in response to recommendations made by the independent commission that reviewed the April 2-3 disturbances.

Police plan to make more face-to-face contact with people and use more loud speaker announcements to let people know what to do to avoid trouble.

"It's basically a gentler experience," Wibert said. "We are still encouraging people to find an alternative way to celebrate rather than taking over a street."

Another aspect of the new plan calls for serious offenders to go to jail and innocent people to be able to walk around without being confronted by police, Wibert said.

Since the committee's last meeting on Jan. 25, sub-committees have met to discuss results of a student survey on their thoughts about a sanctioned celebration event, as well as what kind of message needs to be communicated to the public before any possible events.

The e-mail survey sent to about 1,800 students is finished, but it hasn't been analyzed yet, said Ginny Haas, co-chairperson of the committee and MSU director of community relations.

"One of the goals of the action plan was for leaders in both university and city to be much clearer about what was going to be acceptable and what was not in terms of gathering during celebratory events," said Jean Golden, co-chairperson of the committee and deputy city manager.

Golden said committee members will be using many of the same communication avenues as in the past, such as e-mails, television and radio announcements.

But the message will be much more specific this year, Golden said.