While there were fewer arrests made during the Hollister
Independence Rally than last year, there were more citations issued
and four times the calls for service reported during the three-day
event, according to police.
While there were fewer arrests made during the Hollister Independence Rally than last year, there were more citations issued and four times the calls for service reported during the three-day event, according to police.
Between midnight on Friday and about 3 a.m. Monday morning, the county’s computer-aided dispatch system logged 937 calls for service – considerably more than last years which totaled more than 200 for the entire weekend, according to Hollister Police Capt. Bob Brooks.
The high number of calls simply means more people called for assistance, Brooks said.
Calls could have been for anything such as an officer responding to a complaint of loud music, issuing a citation, arresting someone or responding to a business alarm.
“It shows prevention is working… and it means officers were jumping around a lot,” he said. “It’s better to cite people and let people know enforcement of the laws is being adhered to so they don’t violate them.”
As of Tuesday, Hollister police recorded a total of 56 arrests during the rally, with 20 of them in the downtown area and 36 around the city, Brooks said.
A total of 436 enforcement actions were taken city-wide over the three-day period, which includes citations issued for parking or traffic violations, pedestrian stops and arrests, Brooks said.
The majority of the arrests were for drunk driving, drug-related offenses, drunk in public and vandalism. Six motorcycles, five of them Harley Davidsons and one Suzuki, were stolen over the weekend, Brooks said.
Brooks said that fewer violent crimes being committed and fewer arrests made were because of police officers being outfitted in full police uniform, rather than the less formal T-shirts they’ve worn in years past.
“People were able to distinguish who police officers were rather quickly… Somebody thinking about committing a crime, if they know a police officer is standing 10 feet away, they might not do it,” Brooks said. “Preventing crime just by our presence is our goal.”
Operationally, everything went smoothly downtown and in the rest of the city, Brooks said. However, police will have a better idea of what worked well and what may need to be changed next year after a meeting next week when officers and department heads can brainstorm about the event, Brooks said.
The California Highway Patrol experienced a fairly calm weekend considering the influx of people, according to CHP Officer Terry Mayes.
Out of 25 crashes, seven occurred in San Benito County and none of them were alcohol related, Mayes said.
Three motorcycle-involved accidents occurred in the county, and out of the 21 driving under the influence arrests, 17 of them were in San Benito, Mayes said.
Overall, there were a couple more crashes this year but the numbers for arrests and accidents are fairly comparable to last year, she said.
“It was a pretty successful weekend,” Mayes said. “There was a lot of enforcement activity and a lot of people visible, which helped.”
Having extra highway patrol officers in view to motorists before they entered Hollister could have helped in keeping things under control throughout the weekend, said CHP Officer Brad Voyles.
“Maybe people are getting it in their heads that bad behavior will not be tolerated at the biker festival,” Voyles said. “When there’s an obvious presence it makes people realize they’ve got to behave, and they do.”
