The numbers are in, and the East Lansing and MSU police departments report that more than 600 partygoers received tickets and upward of 125 spent time in jail during this year’s Welcome Week.
Early estimates of citations issued by the East Lansing Police Department were slightly lower than the final report.
But both departments considered the week a success because the number of violent assaults and other serious issues was significantly down from previous years.
Welcome Week and the weekend of the MSU vs. Michigan football game historically are the most hectic crime weekends for the city’s police departments.
Between Wednesday and Sunday of Welcome Week, East Lansing police issued 577 tickets and made 106 arrests. The numbers are nearly equivalent to last year’s festivities, when police made 548 citations and 107 arrests.
The department reported that of the 106 individuals arrested, 59 had no affiliation with the university.
East Lansing police Capt. Tom Johnstone says the department was satisfied with its ability to keep the amount of serious crimes to a minimum.
“The majority of the offenses, by far, were misdemeanor offenses,” Johnstone said. “It’s a success from our viewpoint mostly because the violent crimes and the seriousness of the assaults wasn’t as high as previous years.”
Even though most students flocked to East Lansing during Welcome Week nights, MSU police stayed relatively busy patrolling campus.
The department, which did not add any extra staff for the influx of students, made 85 arrests.
Of the 85 arrests, 65 were for minor in possession incidents and 51 were students.
For the third straight year, MSU police made arrests that hovered just below 100. In 2006, campus police made 94 arrests, and in 2005, 78 arrests.
“In terms of the arrests, it’s similar to previous years,” MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor said.
“There was no injury to anyone, there was no major damage to any property or things of that nature, so it was successful in that way.”
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