Just as the number of jack-o’-lanterns the town gathered grew, the crime statistics increased a little over ten percent in this year’s Pumpkin Fest compared to the incidents reported last year.
The incidents varied from a pizza delivery boy whose car window was smashed to a handful of people arrested for fighting and some for drug related charges, stated Keene Police Department Lieutenant Steven Tenney.
Tenney said his department arrested approximately 150 subjects over the past weekend. In 2012, KPD made around 130 arrests, he stated. “The numbers are comparable to other years, still we saw that there was a little more going on than last Pumpkin Fest,” Tenney said. According to the officer, most of the incidents KPD dealt with were, “primarily alcohol and drug related.” Regarding open container violations and underage drinking, Tenney stated the department issued summons to those to committing lawless actions or even took some individuals into custody. However, he indicated the exact number of people facing open container violations and underage drinking is still unavailable.
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Some other criminal activity during Pumpkin Fest was related to vandalism and misbehavior. “We had a handful of assaults and vandalism reports,” Tenney said. Tenney also indicated that most of the people committing crimes were college age people. He said he couldn’t tell whether they were Keene State College students, friends of students or youth who came to Keene for the festival, but that most of the trouble was caused by individuals between the ages of 18 and 25.
According to an article in The Keene Sentinel, “Many of those arrested were […] not from the Keene area, police said. They could not say yet how many were Keene State College students.” Regarding the party scene on Pumpkin Fest, Tenney said Winchester Court was one of the busiest streets around the college area on Saturday. Some KSC students referred to Winchester Court as the most popular party last weekend. KSC sophomore Jessica Harrington was at Winchester Court. “Winch was really huge […] I didn’t really interact with the cops, but I know they came.” Harrington said few people caused trouble. “Pretty much, it was just people partying, maybe a few kids went off, but that happens when there is so many college people partying in the same place. I think Keene should be expecting that,” Harrington stated. Several KSC students tweeted pictures and messages about the party at Winchester Court. Many of these tweets stated there was an estimate of 3,500 people at some point at the party.
KPD went to Winchester Court various times throughout the day Saturday. “Around four-thirty in the afternoon we went there [Winchester Court] after we received some phone calls about parties filtering into the streets,” noted Tenney. According to the officer, by that time, people had been hit by flying objects and required medical assistance. “The main reason we wanted to clear the streets was because we needed the ambulance to be able to get there and assist the injured,” Tenney explained.
By this time, party attendees were throwing bottles at the officers, said Tenney. According to the Keene Sentinel, “A public service announcement then came over the loudspeakers at the festival, telling people to stop throwing the bottles.” KPD indicated that around five to ten people were injured during the party at Winchester Court, however, “more than half of them would refuse the ambulance, they chose to treat themselves or just to walk away and take care of the injuries later,” Tenney said.
A KSC junior, who wished to remain anonymous, was at the emergency room with a friend who was injured on Winchester Court Saturday. “The hospital was pretty crowded, it took us quite a long time to get out of there,” the junior said.
She said Saturday afternoon she was at her room when one of her roommates came in covered in blood. “She had just walked back from the party. We had to drive her to the hospital from campus,” the student said.
However, Amanda Warman, director of Campus Safety at KSC, said the department was not aware of any injuries registered on campus.
Tenney said that later on Saturday, KPD received a call from the landlord of a house at Winchester Court. “He said he wanted the people to be out of there, so we went and helped clear the area. Neighbors were complaining about the noise as well,” Tenney said.
Tenney indicated, unlike what happened last year, this Pumpkin Fest, KPD didn’t use any pepper spray to break the parties. “We didn’t need to use it this year. We saturated the area with police officers and it may have been announced that pepper spray would be used in case people didn’t leave the area, but we didn’t actually have to use it,” Tenney explained.
According to the Sentinel, some other noise complaints were registered in Church, Elliot, Foster and Marlboro Street[s]. Regarding issues on campus, Warman said the department is still working on recapitulating the incidents from the past weekend. At press time, there was no information available regarding the violations registered at KSC.
Warman stated Campus Safety worked very closely to KPD on Saturday. “There were many police officers off campus patrolling and they were called to campus in case they were need,” Warman said.
However, Warman said she didn’t know how many times KPD was called to campus last weekend.
“Pumpkin Festival is always a very busy weekend for us. It is a very busy weekend for the police as well,” Warman said.
Karina Barriga Albring can be contacted at kbarriga@keene-equinox.com