San Luis Obispo police gave 78 citations and 24 misdemeanors during Halloween weekend safety enhancement zones, according to San Luis Obispo Police Department public information officer Christine Wallace. These safety zones double fines for infractions like public urination, open container, noise disturbances and unruly gatherings.
Students celebrate “Halloweekend,” the unofficial title for the three-day Halloween festivities, at the downtown bars and in house parties across SLO every October. This year, the festivities brought in record citations this year, up from the 68 handed out last year.
The enhancement zones ran for two weekends, Oct. 24 to Oct. 27 and Oct. 30 to Nov. 3. The first weekend only had 8 citations, followed by 70 over the second weekend.
Open container citations saw the most significant increase. In 2024, police issued 41 open container citations. This year, a total of 52 open container citations were distributed over the two weekends.
Halloween looks different every year, depending on where in the week the holiday falls, according Wallace. Since Halloween was on a Friday this October, as opposed to a school night or a week day, students and community members didn’t have to worry about making it to class or work the next day.
“The years where Halloween falls mid-week, it tends to shift what downtown and the neighborhoods look like in terms of people out and impacts,” Wallace said. “So when you have a Halloween that falls on a Friday or a Saturday, we tend to find a whole lot of people in both the neighborhoods and downtown simply because it’s a weekend. I think that the citation data reflects the people, the number of people that were out.”
Not included in the 78 total citations from this year are 24 misdemeanors. Police recorded four DUIs, five minor in possession violations and 15 public intoxication incidents.
Public urination citations decrease, in part due to portable toilets downtown
While open container and noise disturbance citations both saw an increase this year, public urinations and unruly gatherings decreased from last year’s numbers. Unruly gatherings have seen a steady decrease since high numbers in 2023, recording only two this year.
Portable toilets were also provided downtown in attempts to deter public urination. The weekends only had 3 public urination citations.
The decrease in the low rates of public urinations are two fold: in part to the portable toilets provided through SLOPD’s partnership with downtown SLO, as well as the long lines for the bars preventing students from drinking, according Wallace.
“We are totally grateful for the partnership with downtown SLO who provide those toilets, and we know that does make an impact for the downtown businesses,” Wallace said. “Oftentimes [during] busy weekends, they end up coming to their businesses in the morning with vomit and urine in their entry ways and so forth.”
Correction: This article originally stated that Halloween was on a Saturday this year, but Oct. 31, 2025 was on a Friday.