Josh Barta
jbarta@uwyo.edu
Laramie Police Department reported a fairly typical homecoming football weekend this year as the town begins to settle down again.
According to LPD, 28 arrests were made along with 61 cases reported to police, a total of 89 cases responded to, up from the 20 arrests with a total of 78 cases responded to last year.
Despite the increase in arrests from years past, the total amount of arrests is not much different from other weekends.
According to LPD , 20 arrests were made over the weekend before homecoming.
Senior physical education major Michelle Clark said she expected a lot of police activity over homecoming weekend.
“I saw people getting pulled over [this] weekend,” Clark said. “I expected that there would be a lot of people getting pulled over since there was a lot of drinking in town.”
At least 10 of the cases reported this year were alcohol-related, up from seven last year and nine in 2013, according to LPD.
UW student and longtime Laramie resident Derek Schaneman said it is typical for police to prepare for homecoming weekend days before.
“I always see more police around town on Thursday,” Schaneman said. “They establish the highway patrol around 3rd Street so the police can patrol more areas in the city.”
Schaneman also said he knew two people arrested during past homecomings.
“Two friends of mine got arrested for DUI’s back in 2013,” he said. “They were both very drunk.”
Though a marginal increase, the number of alcohol related incidences this year may be attributed to the football team getting its first win this weekend, Schaneman said. He added that as opposed to last year’s homecoming loss, Laramie residents had something to celebrate.
