With fall comes football, accompanied by tailgating, beer, rivalries renewed, rowdy stadiums, raucous crowds and property destruction. Wait, property destruction?
The Columbus Police Department in Ohio responded to at least 50 complaints of fires and property destruction near the Ohio State University campus Sept. 9. According to police, the damage was spurred by the Buckeyes' Saturday night victory over the University of Texas Longhorns.
CPD Sgt. Michael Woods said problems like Saturday night's damage are not a regular occurrence in Columbus, but added Buckeye victories can sometimes serve as the spark for a blaze.
"It seems that in the fall, a football victory tends to be a catalyst for this type of behavior," Woods said.
But in contrast, Madison Police Department Public Information Officer Mike Hanson said the University of Wisconsin has never seen problems like those at Columbus this week. According to Hanson, MPD tries to deal with any potential problems in a more proactive way.
According to Hanson, police efforts on UW football game days have succeeded in keeping Madison safe after big events.
"Our officers are assigned to neighborhoods surrounding Camp Randall on game days to ensure nothing gets out of hand before, and especially after, the games," Hanson said. "We have that going for us, but also, the beauty of a three-hour football game is that it gives fans a chance to sober out, and the fifth quarter also gives Badger fans a chance to blow off steam after the game."
For Columbus, Saturday's incidents fortunately did not mirror the events following big victories in the past. Woods claimed the circumstances of Sept. 9 were not a huge deal, referencing large riots following an Ohio State victory against Notre Dame 10 years ago and against the University of Michigan two years ago as comparison.
"The fires were not concentrated in one place, and we didn't have any problems with large crowds," Woods said of Saturday night. "We were basically just dealing with isolated couch and dumpster fires; there was no real danger of things getting out of control."
Chaotic or not, Saturday's events drew the attention of the Ohio State administration. According to Amy Murray, assistant director of media relations at OSU, she last heard that five students were among those arrested, but the university has not received final word on those numbers.
Murray said students involved in the events could face expulsion for "creating a danger to the community." She emphasized that Ohio State has judiciary processes in place to respond to these types of situations, but in terms of prevention, the university relies on the responsibility of its students.
"In our student handbooks, we articulate a code of student conduct where we explain what we expect from students in terms of behavior," Murray said. "We believe the student code of conduct should be enough."
According to Woods, the CPD was not prepared for Saturday's events because it was an away game, but added that aside from extra security on home game days, the CPD can only respond to riotous or destructive behavior.
Hanson emphasized that because of the MPD's proactive approach and the generally responsible tendencies of Badger fans, police here rarely have to respond to those types of problems.
