Police officials attributed this year’s successful Veishea to the increased security.

This past weekend, the Iowa State Department of Public Safety and the Story County Sheriff’s Office worked in joint effort for the first time, thanks to a grant from the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, said Jerry Stewart, associate director of DPS.

The funding, he said, six deputies to be paid each night from the Story County Sheriff’s Office. This was in addition to the regular officers that did routine patrols.

Lt. Gary Foster of the Story County Sheriff’s Office said the increased participation had an impact on public safety over the weekend. As a result, more persons where charged this year than last year during Veishea.

Stewart said the two agencies together charged 117 people compared to 70 people last year.

“Because our numbers were up this year, we did not necessarily have more problems, but more coverage,” he said.

Ames Police Sgt. Jim Robinson said the police department also had an increase of violations compared to last year.

“Compared to last year, it’s slightly up,” he said. “It wasn’t a significant difference.” Robinson said that besides the increased security, the increase was also because of a larger crowd at Veishea this year.

From last Friday night to Sunday morning, there were 42 arrests and 204 citations made for possession of alcohol underage, according to the Ames Police Department.

Robinson said if a person is living in Iowa he or she is issued a citation for possesing alcohol underage, otherwise the person is arrested.

There were two arrests and eight citations for persons consuming alcohol in public, 80 arrests for public intoxication, four arrests for disorderly conduct, three arrests for bootlegging, two citations for having an open container of alcohol, one citation for possession of false identification, two arrests for trespassing, one arrest for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and one citation made for disturbing the peace from 33 noise complaints.

Robinson said since some people were charged with more than one offense, there were 132 people who were arrested and booked and 219 who were issued citations altogether over the weekend.

There were 260 non-resident violators arrested or cited compared to 83 residents, he said.

Robinson said the vast majority of the violators were very easy-going and cooperative with the police. “One thing I noticed is that they were happy-go-lucky,” he said.

The agencies also had the assistance of the 12 to 14 DPS Student Reserve Officers from 7:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. over the weekend. Students also patrolled by foot, in golf carts, bicycles and vehicles, Stewart said.

He also commended Veishea’s peer security officers and party response teams for their efforts.

“The cooperative effort between the agencies worked to make a successful operation,” Stewart said.

Foster said he would like to continue future operations with DPS and also work with the Ames Police Department in a similar fashion in other events other than Veishea.

“We’re open to any possibility,” he said. “I think based on the success of this project I would hate to see it limited to Veishea.”