By Eric Broude
Daily Titan Staff Writer

San Luis Obispo Police Department was out in full force for Halloween on Saturday, authorities said. Sources told the San Luis Obispo Tribune that Halloween has become a more significant party holiday in recent years and has experienced an upsurge of alcohol-related incidents.

Police Chief Deborah Linden had said that if there continued to be a significant problem this year, she was considering proposing a “safety enhancement zone” program to the City Council for future Halloweens, similar to the program that exists during Mardi Gras. The zones would institute significantly higher fines for certain violations, such as nudity and public urination, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reported.

Sgt. Jeff Booth said that the department was prepared for a much larger party turnout because the holiday fell on a weekend this year.

“We had more officers out and we put them in different areas,” said Booth. “We also did a lot of publicizing to inform the public.”

The SLOPD also collaborated with the California Highway Patrol, Cal Poly Police Department and the Union Pacific Railroad Police,a SLOPD press release states.

“We work with them all the time,” said Booth about the Cal Poly PD.

According to a press release the SLOPD made 33 total arrests, 35 alcohol-related citations and 18 noise violation citations between Friday and Saturday.

“I think (our enforcement) worked really well,” said Booth. He added that the extra enforcement helped partiers respect other people’s property and avoid making bad choices.

Locally, Fullerton had a much lower incident rate than San Luis Obispo and other party locations, such as Santa Barbara’s infamous Isla Vista.

Cal State Fullerton University Police made only six traffic stops on Halloween night, all of them between the hours of midnight and 3 a.m. on Sunday, police records show. All six of the stops resulted in warnings.

One report was taken by University Police at 6:17 a.m. on Sunday. A black Scion was traveling northbound on Commonwealth Avenue, hit the north curb of Nutwood Avenue, went onto the sidewalk and hit a light pole, Brian Barnes, Communications Project Coordinator, said. There was minimal damage to the university’s light pole.

Fullerton has actually seen a decrease in Halloween activity in recent years. There were eight traffic stops during Halloween in 2008 and 12 in 2007, police records show.

There were no additional officers on duty on Halloween night, said Fullerton Police Department Sgt. Steve Williams.

FPD Lt. Kevin Hamilton added that there were no checkpoints or saturation patrols either.

“Our officers knew to be extra vigilant,” said Hamilton, “and to watch for any suspicious driving.”

He added that they made 15 arrests for driving under the influence between Friday and Saturday.