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Police, fire officials prepare for Homecoming Weekend

October 17, 2011

As the Michigan-Michigan State weekend has drawn to a close, East Lansing officials already have shifted their focus to the football season’s next big weekend — Homecoming.

With an 8 p.m. kickoff against No. 4 Wisconsin and visit from ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast crew, this year’s Homecoming Saturday has the potential to be a very busy one for the East Lansing police and fire departments, Fire Marshal Bob Pratt said.

Along with participating in the Homecoming Parade, Pratt said the East Lansing Fire Department will be responding to calls throughout the weekend.

“It’s going to be a huge weekend for us,” he said. “It’s a late game, which typically means we’ll be busier. We’ll start being busy early in the morning, and then we’ll run all day long, late into the evening.”

Pratt said the majority of students are responsible and well behaved, but the small percentage of students and fans who are not responsible reflect poorly on MSU’s reputation.

East Lansing police Sgt. Scott Wrigglesworth said the department will be heavily staffed next weekend, but he doesn’t expect Homecoming to cause any out of the ordinary issues.

Although parking always is always harder to come by on football Saturdays, Wrigglesworth said parking might become a little more scarce because of a high volume of people staying for the weekend.

“With Homecoming, we typically get a lot of past MSU students coming back, and the Wisconsin fans travel really well, too,” he said. “It will be a pretty busy weekend, but when it comes down to it, it’s just another football weekend.”

MSU police Sgt. Paul Kuchek said because the College GameDay announcement came Sunday, the department’s Special Event Unit has not devised its full plan for handling the crowds the broadcast generally brings, but it should be comparable to a normal U-M or Homecoming football Saturday.

Kuchek said MSU Police Department will have extra staff on hand during the game like any other football game. In a previous interview, MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor expressed staying aware during night games, especially when walking home.

Although the campus is well-lit at night, McGlothian-Taylor said students and fans should be sure to stick together after the game.

“(Fans) should always use the buddy system to stay together,” she said. “But it will look like it’s daylight out.”

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