As the fright night gets closer and closer, so does the risk of vandalism, underage drinking and drunk driving.

The Charleston and University Police Departments think students and Charleston residents need to take a few extra precautions to have a safe Halloween weekend.

David Chambers, deputy chief of the CPD, said parents should take their children to neighborhoods they are familiar with and bring a flashlight for dark areas.

Flashlights bring visibility to people wearing dark masks or costumes.

He also said students should be careful with practical jokes and tricking people where it could cause property damage.

“It has been a long time since there were any serious safety issues,” Chambers said. “Students should just try to have a nice, safe, smart weekend and not drink and drive. There will be an alcohol patrol out for drunk driving. We will be running DUI work and I don’t anticipate a huge problem.”

The Charleston police will also look out for open containers of alcohol in public areas and underage consumption of alcohol at parties.

They will write citations for these offenses as they usually would.

According to Ryan Risinger, a University Police Department officer, criminal damage is one of the main problems on Halloween.

“The property on campus is state supported and someone can be charged with a felony if they throw a beer bottle through the Union, knock the lights off on a University patrol car or knock over a parking meter,” Risinger said. “People get caught up in the moment of what they are missing as a kid.”

Risinger also said bar bouncers need to take extra precaution because people in costumes might not be who they say they are and if a person is not able to give their identification, the bar has the right to refuse service.

“Someone dressed as the Joker could be refused service if they could not take off their makeup,” he said.

Furthermore, any crime/felony that is committed where the suspect is masked becomes an aggravated act.

“People think putting on a costume gives them the right to act crazy,” Risinger said. “Just because it’s Halloween, we don’t get rid of the aggravated charge. It would still be an aggravated charge if the battery assault occurred on say, Nov. 15.”

Risinger said even though the Charleston and University police do not see many of these cases, they still need to watch for them.

Risinger said Southern Illinois University Carbondale used to have a lot of problems about 15 to 20 years ago on Halloween and ended up having to shut the campus down for the weekend.

He wants to prevent anything like these ever happening at Eastern.

“People need to be more careful and party more responsibly because it is a big party weekend,” Risinger said.

As far as manning, the University Police Department is not adding any extra patrolmen because, starting this semester, they have had eight officers from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. every Saturday.

“Theoretically, we could have three officers in patrol cars, some on patrol at the quads on campus and someone in command with a few left over,” Risinger said. “We might also have officers on bicycles depending on the weather.”

Chambers said the regular staff of six or seven officers with a few extra patrolmen would be on staff Halloween night.

Dana Jackson, junior journalism major, said this weekend probably would not be any different than Homecoming.

“There might be drinking at the parties, but mostly people are excited to see their friends or what costumes other people are wearing,” she said.

Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7492 or haholm@eiu.edu.

Not only does Halloween raise safety concerns for children but also for college students with heavy drinking. Practical jokes and vandalism are problems as well. (Photo Illustration By Karolina Strack/The Daily Eastern News)

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