Veishea is on its way and students are getting ready, as are the police. The ISU Police Department wants to make Veishea as safe as possible by working in conjunction with Ames residents and the ISU community.

“We have maintained an effective working relationship with the community,” said ISU Police Cmdr. Gene Deisinger.

One of the ways this working relationship has been established is through the public relations campaigns ISU Police has run previous years in the spring.

“We have, each of the last few years, had a proactive campaign during spring, that’s not solely related to Veishea, but occurs during that time as well to educate people about expectations, on- and off-campus activities, house parties, general behavior, etc.” Deisinger said.

He said one of the pillars of this campaign is the idea of giving a warning.

“We partner with the party-response teams, which make early contact with party holders to be sure that they understand the laws and rules that are relevant to let them know that we support them having a safe party within the law,” Deisinger said. “If the party holders are having trouble with unruly guests, we can help them early before any problems develop.”

And the police’s dedication to safety won’t end there – they will be easily accessible on campus to help out if anybody has a problem.

“There will certainly be a greater police presence throughout the university and the Campustown area,” Deisinger said. “It will be different from a typical weekend in that we will have a visible police presence.”

Deisinger said the number of officers present should be roughly the same as in the past.

“I would estimate that probably on Veishea weekend at any given time, we would’ve had 20 to 21 officers on duty,” said Jim Robinson, patrol commander for the Ames Police Department.