Bullhorns, video cameras and chemical agents are on hand, but city, county and ISU officials say they do not plan to use them anytime soon.

Because this weekend is the one-year anniversary of the 2004 riot in Campustown, Ames Police Chief Loras Jaeger said the Ames Police are prepared for any disturbances this weekend, even though he does not think it will happen.

“We’re going to have a lot of our staff here; it’s not going to be as many as we would have had for a big Veishea, but we’ll have more people on board for two reasons: You still have the events that [Leaders INspiring Connections] is doing, number one, and number two, we expect more people in the community,” Jaeger said.

Thomas Hill, vice president for student affairs, and Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance, agreed the weekend would probably go off without a hitch.

Hill said there are events planned throughout April, and this weekend is no different than the others.

“We’ve been planning for the month; it’s been very busy.” he said. “But this weekend is no different as far as staff and activities are concerned.”

Madden said he thinks weather is a factor in how people act this time of the year, and since the forecast predicts rain, he thinks that could be positive for the weekend.

Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald said his department plans on running with standard staffing for the weekend, but if a disturbance were to occur, his staff would assist the Ames and ISU police.

“I think students are going to have a nice, calm, peaceful weekend,” Fitzgerald said.

Madden said public safety looks at each event throughout April and then staffs accordingly.

He said additional equipment is one obvious way the police department has changed since last year.

There are video cameras available in case of a disturbance because the department wants to document it as much as possible, he said. There will also be more bullhorns available to police this weekend because there was concern last year that people couldn’t hear the police tell them that they needed to leave the area of the riot.

He said there will also be chemical agents available, but not any more than there would be on any other weekend.

Jaeger said the police department has taken into consideration the recommendations made from various groups, including the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, the Task Force on Assuring Successful Veishea and Other Student/Community Celebrations and individual students.

Madden, a member of the task force, said there has been ongoing coordination among ISU administration and the Ames and ISU police.

“The city of Ames has taken the recommendations very seriously,” he said.

One effort the police department has made to control house parties is to implement a party response team, which has been in effect for the month of April.

“One recommendation from students was that we go to parties earlier so that they don’t get too large, and we’re trying to address that issue,” Jaeger said. “And we’ve not had problems and we don’t anticipate that.”

Jaeger said the department has also been working on trying to communicate better with bars, in case of a disturbance. He said there was miscommunication last year that needed attention.

The future of Veishea is still under discussion by the task force and other groups. One option under discussion is a location change for some events to move off of Welch Avenue. Jaeger said he thinks that would be a start, but the key to eliminating riots is to involve the entire community.