26-03-2025
St. Fratty's Day arrests and citations fall sharply from year before
After St. Fratty's Day citations and arrests hit record highs in 2024, the annual party saw a stark drop in both this year, according to police.
In total, St. Fratty's Day 2025 saw 45 citations and 25 arrest, the San Luis Obispo Police Department said Tuesday in a news release. In contrast, there were 159 citations and 35 arrests in 2024.
Much of that could be credited to the fact that the illegal street party — which drew more than 6,000 people to the neighborhoods near California and Foothill boulevards in 2024 — did not happen this year.
'The street party was eliminated, and alcohol and noise related violations were managed swiftly,' the release said.
San Luis Obispo Police Department partnered with 23 other law enforcement agencies to deploy nearly 300 officers to prevent the event and maintain order.
Officers told people who were walking in the neighborhoods, 'Go home or get arrested.'
Cal Poly also organized the 'Morning on the Green' music festival as an alternative event, with EDM artists Galantis and Zhu headling the festival.
At its peak, the music festival drew around 6,000 people, the university said.
'We are pleased with the results — even as we acknowledge there are lessons to be learned and areas where we can improve in the future,' Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong said in a statement following the event. The festival had a chaotic start, with students breaking down barriers and crowd crushing to enter the event.
The city again employed safety enhancement zones across two weekends to deter unruly partying.
Safety enhancement zones are periods in which fines are double from $350 to $700 for a first citation, then increase to $1,000 for all subsequent citations.
Last year was the first where the city had stricter enforcement over two weekends. Before, the enhancement zone took place from midnight on March 17 to 7 a.m. on March 18 — a total of 31 hours.
Also, the city warned revelers that arrests this year would also not be eligible for misdemeanor diversion, meaning the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office will file criminal charges against those who were arrested.
Ultimately, the majority of the arrests and citations did not happen on March 15, the day of the party.
That day, four people were arrested for public intoxication, San Luis Obispo Police Department spokesperson Christine Wallace told The Tribune. She said there were 20 citations that Saturday as well — 11 open container, seven noise, one unruly gathering and one public urination.
She added that the public urination citation took place in downtown San Luis Obispo, not in the neighborhoods or at the festival.
In total for the weekend of March 14-18, police arrested 11 people for minor in possession of alcohol, six for public intoxication and three for DUI, the news release said. They issued 17 open container citations, 14 noise citations, four public urination citations and one unruly gathering citation.
From March 7-10 — the prior weekend also deemed in the safety enhancement zone — there were three DUI arrests, two drunk in public arrests, eight noise citations and one public urination citation.
