Whenever a stadium concert event like the George Strait Country Music Festival comes to town, it means extra work for the local police.

With the right preparations, the events can run smoothly, said Sgt. Randy Kessel of the Ames Police Department.

Both Kessel and Loras Jaeger, director of the Department of Public Safety, said the event was successful from a law enforcement standpoint.

“It wasn’t too bad,” Jaeger said. “[DPS] arrested 14 people. When you consider the event gates opened at 11 [a.m.], and the event went until midnight, that’s not bad numbers.”

Kessel said Ames Police made 24 arrests. Of those, 21 people were cited for public intoxication and three for operating while intoxicated.

“There could have been a lot more arrests,” Kessel said. “There are a couple things to consider — this was the type of event that drew more families.

“When you get something like the Rolling Stones, you get more adults and see more arrests,” he said.

Kessel said the majority of the people arrested were from outside the Ames community.

“We had one OWI from an Ames resident. All the others were from out of state and out of town,” he said.

“I think we had one person from Des Moines and quite a few from Nebraska and Illinois,” Kessel said.

Kessel said preparations for stadium events begin well in advance.

“We started on this way before Veishea,” he said. “We meet with DPS and Story County [Sheriff’s Office] and really start on our action plans.”

For large-scale events, local police agencies must work together, Kessel said.

“No one agency has enough manpower to staff an event like this,” he said.

Jaeger also said a lot of work and collaboration is necessary during large events.

“We’re talking about a crowd of 40,000 plus for an all-day event; we’re talking about a lot of police officers,” he said.

“We develop a command post at the stadium with the Ames PD and the Story County Sheriff’s Office,” Jaeger said.

Kessel said the extra workload is not limited to the police.

“[A stadium concert] really affects our whole operation, not just the department but the city. Enforcement is just a small portion,” he said.

“We have to have our traffic engineer involved to see if there will be any trouble re-routing,” Kessel said.