Police put "all hands on deck" for Homecoming

Given a near-riot that occurred in the aftermath of a huge off-campus party in the early Sunday morning hours of 2011's Northwest Missouri State University Homecoming weekend, local law enforcement is promising a strong, citywide police presence to keep this year's promised revelry from getting out of hand.

A festive three-day celebration filled with parade floats, football, student royalty and tearful alumni reunions — not to mention ringing cash registers, Homecoming has nevertheless always had its dark side. Local police typically respond to numerous calls related to various kinds of alcohol-fueled misbehavior, some of it violent.

Last year, a 19-year-old Kansas City man, Andrew Dion Griffin, was arrested on multiple felony charges after two police officers were injured while helping break up a Saturday night bash in the parking lot of the rented Nodaway County Senior Center.

Griffin, who suffered a superficial wound to the neck, was shot by a Maryville Public Safety officer near Frederick Avenue after allegedly striking four people, including two policemen, with his car while fleeing the party.

MPS Director Keith Wood said at least 1,000 college-age revelers, many of them apparently from out of town, attended the giant gathering, which organizers plan to hold again this year at the American Legion hall.

Wood said he has talked with one of the event's organizers in an effort to take proactive steps aimed at preventing this year's party, billed as a "comedy hour," from getting out of hand.

The police chief said he understands arrangements are being made for private security. He added that officers plan to monitor the event closely with frequent drive-bys and a physical presence by officers designed to work "preventively as opposed to reactively."

Last year's Senior Center incident aside, Wood said Northwest's Homecoming is always an intense time for police that requires "virtually all" of the 20-member department's resources.

Allocating funds for overtime during the weekend is a regular part of the city's budgeting process, and time off for anyone authorized to wear a badge and carry a gun is rare. This year's personnel demands are especially problematic, Wood said, due to Homecoming occurring during the same week as Halloween.

"We're taking a double hit, so to speak," said Wood, adding that extra patrols and beefed-up shifts will nevertheless begin Friday evening and continue through early Sunday.

"That's one of the things that sometimes the public doesn't think about," he said. "The time demands placed on public servants of any kind."

Northwest Campus Police Chief Clarence Green said his 12-member force is also bracing for a long weekend. He noted that the department is more than just a campus security team, and that Northwest officers are armed, commissioned and empowered to make arrests.

"It's pretty much all hands on deck," he said. "We start early with Homecoming and will be working all of the various events."

Students can expect to see police at the traditional Variety Show on Thursday and Friday night. Northwest officers will also work Saturday's tailgate party in University Park and the football game that afternoon.

Numerous student events Saturday night at The Station and J.W. Jones Student Union will be monitored as well.

Keeping parties from getting out of control at off-campus fraternity houses is usually a job that falls to city police, though Green said campus officers are sometimes called in to assist.

The department has been working to prevent Homecoming incidents before they happen by urging students to avail themselves of the Safe Ride Home program, which provides free transportation back to campus for Bearcats who have had too much to drink.

The last time there was a serious Homecoming incident on the Northwest campus itself was in 2007, when several shots were fired outside The Station. No one was injured, and the shooter was never identified.