Crime and arrest reports in Oxford came in at nearly double the rate of other game day weekends during the university’s rivalry football weekend against the LSU Tigers.
Oxford officials reported 91 campus incidents, 60 city arrests and 27 ambulances sent to campus between Thursday, Nov. 14, and Sunday, Nov. 17.
According to the University Police Department’s crime report, the prior game day weekend against New Mexico State reported only 41 campus incidents, and homecoming weekend resulted in 67 campus incidents.
The Clery Daily Crime Log shows that campus-reported incidents included: harassment, motor accidents and violations, alcohol violations, reports of suspicious persons, larceny at a sorority house, larceny at the J.D. Williams Library, vandalism, arrests at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, fights in the Grove, possessions of fake IDs, fraud, assault in The Pavilion and 27 reports of an ambulance needed on campus.
Edward Atherton, a junior risk management and insurance major, said he had a fearful Saturday night in Baptist Memorial Hospital by his friend’s bedside as they waited for him to wake up.
“He was drinking at the Grove all day and came back to our house and kept drinking,” Atherton said. “He was looking really intoxicated all day, and when he got back, he fell asleep. We went to check on him, and he wouldn’t wake up, so we called an ambulance. He had a bloody nose and couldn’t talk, so we went with him to the hospital. He had a BAC of .291.”
Baptist Memorial Hospital declined to provide the total number of patients admitted to the hospital this weekend, as well as the number of ambulances sent out.
Hildon Sessums, captain of the Oxford Police Department, reported 60 total arrests: 32 arrests for public drunk, 12 arrests for driving under the influence, one arrest for a minor in possession and seven arrests for drug offenses.
OPD arrests in the city of Oxford nearly doubled from 37 arrests the previous weekend when Ole Miss played New Mexico State and 40 arrests on homecoming weekend against Vanderbilt.
To prepare for a game weekend, OPD meets with other law enforcement agencies, the university’s athletics department and Oxford city officials, Sessums said.
Sessums also said that during every game weekend, OPD patrols the main campus intersections, along with the highway, and they assign extra officers on the Square to handle the crowds at night.
“Only difference (for LSU weekend) is that we had a few extra officers out on the Square Thursday through Saturday night,” Sessums said. “I believe (Alcoholic Beverage Control) had a couple of extra people inside of the stadium to monitor alcohol sales, but they weren’t on the Square.”
Though data shows a large increase in crime and arrests compared to other weekends, Sessums said OPD was prepared.
“For the most part, the weekend went about like how we thought it would,” Sessums said.
