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Police throughout Utah expect wildness more than wickedness on New Year's Eve
By Leah L. Culler
With a worldwide party to bring in the new millennium just around the corner, law enforcement officials across Utah are preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. Police departments say they expect an increase in activity, but none expects the increase to be in crime-related activity. Despite their assurance, law enforcement officials have been preparing for more than a year for unexpected problems. Capt. Bob DeGasser of the Cache County Sheriff's Office said his office has been working on their contingency plan for this New Year's Eve weekend since November of 1998. "We have plans to beef up some shifts and stagger manpower hours," he said. "We will also have a few designated areas with extra watch." Locally, Logan police Lt. Randy Auman is not expecting anything outrageous, but is increasing staff on duty as a precaution. "I expect more parties, more people celebrating, more people out late at night," he said. Logan will have a few more officers on patrol, as well as additional staff on duty in other areas such as communication. "I believe there will be more interest generated than a regular New Year's Eve," Auman said. He said he thinks a lot of people will stay close to home and he anticipates quite a few parties and celebrations right here in Cache Valley. "I think people will stay close to home with this whole Y2K thing," he said. According to Salt Lake City Assistant Police Chief Larry Stott, the Salt Lake City Police Department has been holding planning meetings to get ready for the downtown millennium celebration. No officer in the Salt Lake City police department will be allowed to take vacation time from Dec. 31 through Jan. 3. Stott said they will be bringing in some officers on overtime, while others will be on standby. "The backup units are all ready and the radio systems are operable," he said. "We will do what we can for the effects of Y2K as well." Stott said the majority of the administration from the police and fire departments will be working that evening. He said Salt Lake City is different from many other cities. "People come in to the downtown area and they come with a party attitude to a party atmosphere," Stott said. Law enforcement officials will be ready to handle any unruly partiers, but Stott doesn't expect any out of the ordinary activity. "We usually have a great deal of activity downtown," he said. "We're just going to have a few more people." Although they don't expect anything, they don't want to be caught unprepared, Stott said. To ensure they won't be caught unprepared, Salt Lake City has set up a command center and operation center, similar to the emergency operation centers that were set up during the tornado earlier this year. Stott said New Year's Eve is a training night for emergency operation procedures. Most of the head administration from the police and fire department will be gathered together and given a scenario to discuss. Then, if something does happen, they will be prepared with the manpower and equipment to handle the situation. The Ogden police department also has plans to beef up for the New Year's weekend, according to Lt. Randy Watt. "It's not that we expect trouble," he said. "But we want to be prepared." The Ogden police force will be 70-strong that evening, almost double the 35 to 40 officers who regularly patrol on New Year's Eve. Watt said Ogden has seen a fairly large celebration the past few years with their First Night Celebration, and he expects things to run smoothly again this year. The Utah State University Police Department has also been working on a contingency plan, although Chief Steve Mecham said he personally doesn't expect anything to happen. According to Mecham, New Year's Eve is usually pretty slow up on campus. A few extra officers will be on duty, in case of any problems, however. "We're expecting a day, just like any other day," he said, "but we are preparing." Mecham stated his biggest concern to be a major power outage, but added that he feels the power companies have done a good job to ensure this will not happen. In the past, events such as Aggie football games and the Halloween Howl have generated a lot of student interest and required a fully staffed police force. "It's like a BYU/USU game," Auman said. "There are more people, so we need more police." Auman said another big celebration for Cache Valley has been the Fourth of July, while Stott mentioned the 24th of July as the biggest event for Salt Lake police. For the 24th, Stott said, everyone on the force is on overtime for almost two days. Another big event is any time the Jazz make the playoffs, Stott added. "That always creates quite a bit of activity," he said. DeGasser said an event that created this much concern for law enforcement has not been seen since the Independence Day celebration of 1976. That year was the 200th anniversary of the country's independence and many people had threatened to perform violent acts against the idea of liberty. "It was a challenging year for law enforcement," DeGasser said. "There were threats of acts of violence from several groups who claimed to have agendas they were going to carry out." Watt said he could not personally recall any other holidays that have required this sort of manpower. "There have been a couple of situations where we have doubled up," he said. "But not on holidays and usually only for four to six hours." Watt said the festivities will depend a great deal on what the weather turns out to be for New Year's weekend. If there is a great deal of snow, they will expect less activity. One major concern for all is traffic accidents. Stott said he expects an increase in individuals driving under the influence of alcohol, resulting in a possibility of more accidents. "We don't expect more traffic accidents," Watt said. "But we are preparing for them." The most important thing for individuals, he said, is to be safe and be prepared. "Who knows what will come of the Y2K hype," he said. "But you should
enjoy yourself. These things only come along once every hundred years."
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