Every Halloween weekend — also known as “Halloweekend” —, San Luis Obispo County and Cal Poly brace for an influx of parties and alcohol-related incidents. According to Police Chief Rick Scott, SLOPD was out in “max deployment,” with “all available resources out on the street each and every night beginning at farmer’s market through the Halloween Day,” he said. The support staff consisted of more than 20 officers and additional non-sworn personnel.
Halloween-related celebrations led to a significant increase in police contacts over the SLO’s “Halloweekend.” San Luis Obispo Police Department (SLOPD) plans to recommend amendments to future Safety Enhancement Zones in response, SLOPD’s Chief Scott reported at the Nov. 7 City Council Meeting.
SLOPD reported 98 total violations over the weekend; only 13 were reported on Halloween, which had the Safety Enhancement Zone in effect.
San Luis Obispo saw a “significant increase in contacts over that weekend,” Scott said.
On Saturday, Oct. 28, SLOPD saw a three-times increase in calls to the dispatch center. Out of the 214 calls, half resulted in violations.
Celebrations occurred mainly in the downtown area but were consistent throughout the city. SLOPD worked alongside Cal Poly Police Department (CPPD) and California Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) throughout the weekend.
According to Police Public Affairs Manager Christine Wallace, the increase in misdemeanor citations was directly related to the number of people participating in Halloweekend festivities. Many of the college-aged visitors were from the Goleta and Isla Vista neighborhoods experiencing closures that weekend.
While there was an increased number of visitors, the conduct of Halloween partiers was typical for Halloween weekend.
“The overall conduct was similar to all party weekends in SLO — lots of folks in the neighbors and downtown, the neighborhoods experienced a large number of noisy parties and downtown was busy from Thursday to Saturday,” Wallace said. “Arrests were made for DUI, public intoxication, minor in possession and citations issued for noise and unruly gatherings, public urination, and open container.”
The number of drinking-related incidents reported on campus to CPPD reflected this behavior. CPPD and California ABC reported 12 misdemeanors — five for minor in possession and seven for fake ID — and two arrests the weekend prior, Scott said.
According to CPPD, there were 16 medical and alcohol/drug-related reports across first and second-year housing on campus. Additional calls were made to non-housing locations on campus, including the Health and Wellbeing Center, the Recreation Center, Grand Avenue and the Walter F. Dexter Building. Reports made to CPPD do not necessarily end in any criminal offenses.
Multiple reports came from the yakʔitʸutʸu residence hall throughout the weekend.
Business freshman Cindy Estrada, who lives in the tšɨłkukunɨtš building, said she felt like everyone in the residence halls were partying “nonstop” during Halloweekend.
CPPD saw consistent calls throughout Friday and Saturday night, with a notable surge between 10 p.m. and 12 a.m. Six calls were referred to the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities (OSRR), a Cal Poly resource that leads the disciplinary process for student behavioral problems.
Two arrests were made the weekend prior to Halloween, with one arrest for public intoxication at the Cerro Vista Apartments.
On Halloween night, there was only one report on campus, also for an alcohol/drug-related incident.
The Halloween surge comes after SLOPD reported a 256% increase in misdemeanor municipal code violations from August to September, compared to previous periods in 2023.
Although the Safety Enhancement Zone was in effect on Halloween, the city saw “significantly less activity” due to the holiday falling on a school night, Scott said.
In an effort to limit holiday celebrations on the weekends, SLOPD plans to propose amendments to the Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day Safety Enhancement Zones, Wallace said.
The recommendations will “likely include expanding the zones to a longer set of days,” she said. Wallace also said more information will be available after the Thanksgiving holiday.
The focus of these changes will be on reducing “types of behavior that we see downtown that have a tendency to make our community feel less safe,” Scott said.
SLOPD has been in “ongoing conversations” with Cal Poly about possible solutions.
“[We are] looking for ways to better partner in keeping the events out of our community, out of our neighborhoods and to more areas that can be done to more sanctioned control and less impact to our community,” Scott said.