Fewer arrests than last year and no major incidents during the
Hollister Independence Rally made for a successful and generally
quiet weekend for law enforcement.
Fewer arrests than last year and no major incidents during the Hollister Independence Rally made for a successful and generally quiet weekend for law enforcement.
On a whole, the event was mellower than in years past and a firm yet courteous enforcement policy helped the overall operations run smoothly, said Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller.
“I’m very impressed with operations on the police side – everybody did a good job contributing,” Miller said. “The posture we took was, follow the rules, obey the laws… we were looking for compliance.”
Final statistics of violations for the entire weekend had not been compiled as of Monday, but there weren’t as many egregious problems as in years past and “nothing really bad happened,” Miller said.
A stabbing of a Hollister resident early Monday morning on Sunnyslope Road by a transient the victim had allowed to stay on his property over the weekend, and at least one felony driving under the influence arrest on Saturday at Fourth and Westside streets topped the list of major arrests, police said.
Over the three days, a total of 84 people were arrested and booked into the San Benito County Jail, according to San Benito County Sheriff Lt. Pat Turturici.
“That’s low for us, we usually get over 100,” he said. “It was a quiet weekend.”
Police recorded over 20 violations on Friday and over 100 on Saturday. Most of those were traffic citations for stop sign, insurance and helmet violations, Miller said.
Earlier this year, the city discussed canceling the rally over worries that there would not be enough police.
That wasn’t a problem because there were enough officers patrolling this year, but that doesn’t mean it will be adequate next year, Miller said.
There were several disputes Saturday morning in the downtown area that could have gotten out of hand if officers hadn’t got a handle on things when they did, Miller said. An extra team could have been helpful, he said.
“It was hairy for a while,” he said, “but in order to get a more accurate idea of what we need to handle it better, I want to wait to get more feedback from the officers.”
Nearly 50 outside officers from Kingsburg, Newman, Watsonville, Modesto and the Department of Justice ended up committing to the rally, which was slightly more than committed last year, said Hollister Police Sgt. Ray Wood.
The operational plan this year was similar to last year’s, except that instead of assigning a local sergeant to a team of outside officers, someone in the outside unit was chosen to be the team leader and make sure all aspects of the team’s assigned areas were running satisfactory, Wood said.
This allowed four local supervisors to pair up in teams of two and canvass the entire rally, checking in with each outside team leader and covering more area and providing more supervision, he said.
“That way you’ve got four supervisors who are responsible to this community… you’re not relying solely on outside people to make sure everything goes OK,” Wood said. “Our best intentions are going to be different than somebody else’s… so if something happened we can find the best resolution that fits our community.”
Between 30 to 40 outside officers dedicated to watching the outlaw biker gangs were supervised by Sheriff Curtis Hill, but not one arrest of an outlaw biker was made, Hill said.
“In a word, quiet,” he said. “I would like to think that it was a combination of enforcement posture and (bikers) wanting to see the event a success, also. I was happy the way the event unfolded – I thought it all went well.”
Rally-goer and long time biker Jerry Elmore of Parish, Calif. thought the amount of police presence at the rally was “about right,” he said.
“They haven’t been much trouble,” Elmore said. “If they don’t have enough, they’ll have more fights.”
The Vault owner Ignacio Velasquez noticed a less intrusive posture on law enforcement’s part and a desire to communicate better, he said.
“In previous years the outside agencies have been very aggressive,” he said. “This time they talked to us and looked things over rather than storming in and pushing people around… From what we saw they did a great job.”
Miller spent much of the weekend downtown with his officers on patrol. Because this was his first rally he wanted to get a first-hand perspective to draw on in the future, he said.
“I’m not going to make my people work and not work myself, and I’m another body – I’m still a cop, I can help out and do things,” he said. “It was good for me to get a view of how things are. Rather than relying on guessing, next year I can rely on experience.”
Total arrests and bookings over the rally weekend at the San Benito County Jail : 84
Rally Arrests
– Driving under the influence, misdemeanor: 30; 1 felony DUI
– Battery: 1
– Resisting arrest: 3
– Under the influence of drugs: 1
– Parole arrests: 2
– Out of county or local warrant arrests: 17
– Domestic violence: 1
– Drunk in public: 11
– Vandalism: 5
– Restraining order violation: 1
– Burglary: 2
– Probation arrests: 2
– Drug possession: 5
– Petty theft: 1
– Disturbing the peace: 1
