Nebraska’s first home game always makes for a hectic weekend, and despite the absence of the State Fair from Labor Day weekend for the first time in a century, the police activity did not disappoint. On Friday, we responded to 447 incidents, on Saturday it was 482, and on Sunday 411. Our average daily total this year has been 354. Notably, there were 68 assaults over those three days while our average daily number of assaults this year has been 13. Most of those weekend assaults, no doubt, were alcohol related.
Here’s my favorite weekend phone message for the Chief forwarded from the Police Service Desk. :
XXXXX WANTED TO CALL AND COMPLAIN ABOUT THE ALCOHOL ABUSE AND ALL THE BEER CANS THAT WERE LEFT ON THE WALKOVER BRIDGE AROUND 11/Y ON 09/04/2010. SHE CAN BE REACHED AT HOME 402 XXXXXXX OR HER CELL PHONE 402XXXXXXX.
No kidding.
On the subject, we will now get a chance to see how the adoption of a 2:00 AM closing time for bars impacts police incidents. The closing time change enacted by the City Council becomes effective on September 17. Just as a short and informal test, we could compare the last two weeks of 1:00 AM with the first two weeks of 2:00 AM—if someone reminds me to do so.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
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11 comments:
Seems like everytime I turned around, I heard an Officer taking one to detox. I'm guessing several drunken fans didn't make it to the game.
Also noticed several were hauled out of the stadium for drunkeness.
I supported the 2am closing time for bars so that lincoln can stay competitive with Omaha for bands and so-forth, but it should be interesting seeing how much trouble that extra hour brings.
Why not compare the same two weeks from previous years with the first two weeks of 2am closings. You've got a hefty background in stats, so I think you'd agree that would provide a better comparison. After all, you'd want to have the start of the UNL fall semester in the same place each year, unless you think that move-in week and the first couple of weeks of school are the same as the rest of the year, as far as binge-drinking goes. Change one variable at a time!
This is UNLPD incident 10003239, if you want to look it up:
"UNL student contacted outside of Memorial Stadium after showing signs of being intoxicated. Transported to the hospital by LFR due to his high level of intoxication. BAC .510."
That BAC isn't a typo, it's just like you read it. He actually tested even higher (!) initially, if you can believe that.
9:39-
You're right. There are just too many intervening variables going on with the first home game, and the start of the school year. I'll do a snapshot in a few weeks that compares a 2010 time frame with the same time frame in 2009, and I'll try to make sure that the period includes the same number of UNL home football games, because I think that's an important variable to keep constant. It will just be a preliminary exploration, though, because I think we'll need a much longer time frame to draw any overarching conclusions about the impact. Still, I'm interested to see if the bar break bubble basically moves forward one hour. I get such a kick out of it when I hear proponents trying to argue that an extra hour of sales will give people more time to taper.
Chief,
Did the State Fair seem to increase the incidents of rowdy behavior in past years?
Gun Nut
Gun Nut-
Actually, we were busier this year without the State Fair than the same three days last year. The dispatches for the weekend leading up to Labor Day in 2009 were: Fri-389, Sat-513, Sun-390. Total of those that were assaults: 56.
Chief,
To help make it clear to me and others who may not know but monitor your blogs, can you talk about DETOX a bit?
Why does a person go to detox rather than jail?
How does a visit to detox effect their criminal history if someone (LEO or courts) wanted to look it up?
Does jail overcrowding play a part in the decision to put someone in detox?
And while I am thinking about the jail.... is the old jail planned on being used as a jail after the new one is built? If so, would it help to use the old jail as a misdemeanor facility and the new one as a felon or high risk facility, or vice versa?
In ideal circumstances, bar tenders do not serve to people who are already intoxicated, so the closing time should make little difference. In reality, there will probably be some who indulge more than they might have with an earlier closing time. Even though it may pose a greater threat to the public, by way of drunken drivers, public urination, assaults, and the like, I don't see a valid argument for keeping the closing time as it is. If we were to go with public safety as an issue, we should probably just ban alcohol altogether. Oops, I guess we tried that once, and it resulted in the rise of organized crime, people being machine gunned in the streets, etc.
When are we going to realize, people choose their own paths, and they seldom change. If they go astray, put them away!
I think the bars should be open 24/7. Let people be responsible for themselves. If you screw up, you pay the consequences. The people making poor choices will do it whether the bars are open until 2 or not.
Watchful:
1. Drunk, unable to care for self, at risk to self or others, on public or quasi public property, no other practical and availabe less restrictive alternative: these are the prerequisites for emergency protective custody of an intoxicated person under State law, and Cornhusker Place ("Detox") is our local facility. Also, Cornhusker Place is where the vast majority of drunk drivers are both tested and left pending other transportation arrangements. Since some people in the above condition have also committed crimes, there is often a decision to be made about Cornhusker Place vs. jail. Compliant drunks who've committed misdemeanors are more likley to go to the former, aggressive ones and felons the later.
2. No, that's not a public record. If you were arrested for urinating in public, however, and left at CP in protective custody with your citation in your pocket, the ticket certainly is public record.
3. Yes, Cornhusker Place is cheaper and more appropriate for an ordinary drunk who's committed a minor underlying criminal offense.
4. Not my baliwick. I'm not sure what the County Board has planned for the vacated jail. I don't think your suggestion would be very practical, because you'd have the operating expense for two jails under than scenario. Maybe they'll just mothball it like the USS Iowa.
The old jail should be made to a work for stay hotel. The city would get labor from the volunteer workers. It would impact the homeless and fewer would stay at the mission.
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