HOBOKEN—Law enforcement officials reported the lowest number of arrests and ambulance calls resulting from Hoboken’s St. Patrick’s Day pub crawl since similar events were inaugurated in 2012. However, the heightened security did not come without a cost. According to an NJ.com report, the force of around 200 officers who blanketed southern Hoboken on Saturday, March 7 incurred an estimated $94,000 in city overtime.
Hoboken’s longstanding St. Patrick’s Day parade was cancelled by its independent organizers in 2012 after Mayor Dawn Zimmer pushed them to reschedule the event from Saturday to Wednesday to cut down on the ambience of debauchery. An annual pub crawl has been held in the city on the first Saturday in March ever since, but the incidence of crime associated with the bash has yet to match the levels seen during recent parades.
Police made 11 arrests this year, compared to 34 in 2011, the last year of the parade, according to an NJ.com report. Thirty-nine individuals were transported to local hospitals, compared to 136 in 2011. Summons for violating city ordinances were also down by two-thirds compared to 2011, from 292 to 95, although this year’s tally was the highest since the pub crawl began.
Five bars received “tavern sheets”—two for assaults, two for overcrowding, and one for a medical issue. The police reports can sometimes result in fines or penalties levied against bars by the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer credited the end of the St. Patrick’s parade and the hard work of the Hoboken Police Department and its new chief Kenneth Ferrante with keeping crime down for another year.
“There has been a huge drop in crime and quality of life issues and a reduction in public safety costs since the last year of the parade in 2011,” she said. “In addition, the Police Department received only three calls regarding house parties this year. I especially want to thank Chief Ferrante for his proactive and cost-effective policing approach.”
Ferrante called the record low arrests and ambulance calls “strong indications that instances of major fights and dangerous intoxication are greatly reduced.”
“There were no reported sexual offenses, only three aggravated assaults (two were St. Patrick’s related), and no incidents which caused life threatening conditions,” he added.
Two weeks ago, Ferrante noted that several bars in Manhattan were holding their own “LepreCon” St Patrick’s-themed pub crawl on March 7, and speculated that the competition would reduce the crowds in Hoboken, if not the rate of crime.
As in past years, the Hoboken Police Department instituted a zero tolerance policy for quality-of-life violations like urinating in public and carrying an open alcoholic container on the day of the event, meaning that any reported violation received a guaranteed summons.
In addition to deploying every uniformed officer from the Hoboken Police Department, Ferrante received mutual assistance from NJ Transit Police, Port Authority Police, and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Rapid Deployment Force. A mobile command center was lent to the city by the Union City Police Department.
City spokesman Juan Melli told NJ.com that the police overtime incurred on March 7 would be included in Hoboken’s 2015-16 municipal budget.
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