Although East Lansing is home to MSU, East Lansing residents shouldn’t be concerned about their children’s safety, Michigan State Police First Lieutenant Joseph Thomas said.
“I would not call (MSU) crazy,” Thomas said. “(East Lansing) is a very safe environment to trick or treat in — (parents and kids) just need to prepare.”
To help combat safety concerns near campus, East Lansing hosts their annual Great Pumpkin Walk the week before Halloween, said Interfraternity Council’s director of Safe Halloween Alex Barone. To coincide with the city-wide event, MSU greek life hosts their annual Safe Halloween event where they have bounce houses, face painting, pumpkin decorating and candy corn relays for passing trick-or-treaters.
“We always plan it so it’s the same day as the East Lansing Pumpkin Walk so our hopes are that (when) everybody is done going to the businesses ... they make their way to our event,” Barone said. “It’s really to just give kids a fun, safe environment where they can come trick-or-treat and interact with members of the greek community.”
But on Halloween, East Lansing and MSU have an increased amount of foot traffic, Thomas said.
“We make sure that parents make their children aware that they have to be conscious of the increased traffic,” Thomas said. “There aren’t really many kids that trick-or-treat on campus. In the neighborhoods kids have to watch out for the traffic volumes.”
Bailey Community Association member and parent Konrad Hittner said he’s not concerned about children’s safety this year.
“I haven’t worried about Halloween for a long time,” Hittner said. “It’s a holiday for everyone, even for young adults. Is it worse than any other Friday or Saturday night? Maybe a little.”
Also, as a student, Barone doesn’t see much harm in children trick-or-treating near MSU’s campus.
“Honestly there (are) probably dangers anywhere — campus or not campus, suburb or city,” Barone said. “Everyone can relate to when they were little and trick-or-treating. No one wants to ruin or put a damper on a kid’s experience.”
With East Lansing scheduling trick-or-treating from 6-8 p.m., there will be less conflict between college students and trick-or-treaters, Hittner said.
“It avoids the primetime college kids’ time,” Hittner said. “You see some interesting characters come down the streets, but I don’t usually see any conflict between college students and little trick-or-treaters.”
