Police made 46 arrests and cited 70 people over the three days of the Hollister Independence Rally, according to statistics released by Hollister police Tuesday.
Beyond the numbers, there weren’t any incidents that Police Chief David Westrick would consider major during the event.
There were the arrests and citations that included 12 driving under the influence stops, according to the HPD stats.
Last year, there were 32 arrests and 86 citations with 10 DUIs, and in 2014 there were 28 arrests and just 16 citations with 11 DUIs.
This was the fourth consecutive year of a motorcycle rally revival in Hollister, known as the Birthplace of the American Biker. Hollister’s rally commemorates the 1947 “invasion” of Boozefighters into the small town that inspired the Marlon Brando movie “The Wild One.” The cost of security has been a major factor in the on-again, off-again nature of the event.
In the agreement with promoter Reno-based Roadshows, which runs the Street Vibrations events there, the promoter agreed to pay $135,000 to cover city costs such as police, fire and public works. That is $45,000 less than the desired amount from the city, $180,000. But Hollister officials in the contract agreed to call it even if the promoter would collect city business license fees and sales tax revenue totaling an estimate of the $45,000 difference.
On Tuesday, Westrick said planning for the event all year helped keep involved agencies, and the promoter, on the same page.
“Everybody kind of knows what their role is,” he said.
Westrick also emphasized that arrest totals for the actual event area totaled just 19, with 13 Saturday. There were 27 arrests throughout the rest of the city over the weekend, he said. He said the enforcement environment was similar to 2015, after the Chevron station shooting in 2014 and six crashes in 2013.
