As Kansas State students anticipate the annual celebration of Fake Patty’s Day, the Riley County Police Department is preparing for one of their busiest days of the year. Like past years, RCPD is exploring new methods of approaching Fake Patty’s Day to promote safety.
“Essentially all hands are on deck,” RCPD Major Daryl Ascher said. “We have all of our officers and staffing working that day, and what we do is prepare months in advance to project exactly what is going to occur that day.”
To prepare for the number of calls for service expected on Saturday, RCPD has called in five different agencies for assistance, including the Kansas State University Police Department, Emporia Police Department, Lawrence Police Department, the Kansas Highway Patrol and Alcoholic Beverage Control. RCPD has chosen not to run their Fake Patty’s Day social media campaign promoting safety that they conducted last year. Instead, they have chosen to prepare for the holiday more discreetly.
“We’ve tried some different campaigns in the past, and we’ve felt at times that our message didn’t get properly put out there,” Ascher said. “I think that we’ve kind of scaled back some of our campaign to really say, don’t act any different. We don’t want people to forget about the laws that are in place. We want them to be smart about what they’re doing if they choose to drink and participate in Fake Patty’s Day, and most of all, we want people to be safe.”
According to RCPD, there was a decrease in arrests and calls for service last Fake Patty’s Day compared to past years, and the department hopes for the same outcome this year.
“We obviously hope that there is a continued decrease from last year for any type of law enforcement intervention,” Ascher said. “The biggest issues that we do see are open containers in public, transporting and or minors in possession, transporting an open container in public and hosting parties with minors. It usually revolves around possession of alcoholic beverages in an illegal manner.”
Staff at RCPD aren’t the only ones anticipating a busy day on Saturday. Aggieville bar owners and employees have been preparing themselves for the crowds expected to swarm their businesses.
“We will have a full staff on from the time we open the doors at noon until we close at midnight,” Jeff Denney, owner of Auntie Mae’s Parlor, said. “We reduce our occupancy level a bit so that the bar doesn’t get overcrowded, and customers can be served without a long wait. Our door staff will be vigilant about checking IDs and keeping minors out, and we won’t allow in anyone who is obviously intoxicated, so that our customers can enjoy their time here without being bothered. We try to be somewhat of an oasis from the chaos that might be going on elsewhere in Aggieville.”
Max Barbe, sophomore in applied mathematics and employee at Auntie Mae’s Parlor, feels excited for the expected turnout and hopes the holiday brings a successful night for workers.
“I feel prepared, I’m expecting to deal with a lot of nonsense, honestly, but nothing I haven’t been through before,” Barbe said. “I feel very safe at Mae’s, I know for absolute certainty that everyone there has my back and the door workers don’t hesitate to remove people who are causing problems for staff and other bargoers. I’m overall expecting it to be a really good night.”
