LepreCon, Hoboken’s annual St. Patrick’s Day themed bar crawl, was relatively calm this year with only 11 arrests made on a day where large crowds are known to start drinking early in the morning.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
According to Hoboken Police Chief Kenneth Ferrante, the day netted 11 arrests, 31 city ordinance violations, 28 people being transported to the hospital and 477 calls for service.
All of those figures are down from 2016, the chief said, with the exception of calls for service: compared to 432 from last year. He attributed this change to “proactive policing” and motor vehicle summonses.
There were 477 calls for service in @CityofHoboken from 8am Sat. to 4am Sun., up from 432 in 2016 due to proactive policing & MV summonses.
— Chief Ken Ferrante (@KenFerrante) March 5, 2017
The majority of the arrests were either from disorderly conduct, aggravated assault incidents related to street fights and driving while intoxicated, officials said.
In one particularly egregious incident, Justin Dominguez, 22, of East Hanover was charged for simple assault after allegedly shoving a female to the ground as she tried to help another woman who was arguing with Dominguez, authorities said.
LepreCon came to prominence after the city cancelled their annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in 2012, citing too many drunken incidents throughout the course of the day.
Ferrante has taken a proactive approach to maintaining order during city bar crawls, with North Bergen, NJ Transit, Westfield, Stevens University police, as well as the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, making sure 220 officers were on duty in Hoboken Saturday.
Thanks @nbpolice, @FollowStevens PD, @NJT_Advisory PD, Westfield PD, @UnionCityPD & Hudson @HCPOProsecutor ‘s office. 220 Officers today!
— Chief Ken Ferrante (@KenFerrante) March 4, 2017
While some residents and business owners were against cancelling the St. Patrick’s Day parade at the time, Mayor Dawn Zimmer noted that the results speak for themselves in a tweet yesterday.
Since 2011:
Ordinance violations â¬‡ï¸ 89%
Ambulance calls â¬‡ï¸ 79%
Arrests â¬‡ï¸ 68%
Thank you @KenFerrante, HPD, EMS, HFD & all first responders. https://t.co/6zrkoMMmoG— Dawn Zimmer (@dawnzimmernj) March 6, 2017
Are Zimmer and her Chief also taking credit for the fact that this was the coldest weekend of the winter? Are they telling the public that attendance at the bar crawl was a fraction of what it was in recent years, thus affecting the number of complaints received and tickets issued? Are they telling you that most of the bars west of Willow Avenue were virtually empty on Saturday? Are they telling you that the families who live in Hoboken are denied a parade but are stuck paying the bill for the over reaction of the Chief and his 200 plus cops on duty?
Are Zimmer and her Chief telling you how many city workers besides cops and firefighters were milking the day and collecting huge overtime checks?
If Hudson County View wants to do some reporting, try filing an OPRA request and let the taxpayers know how much Zimmer and her Chief paid out on Saturday. And if Zimmer wants to protect the taxpayers of Hoboken why doesn’t she get her rubber stamp City Council to simply ban bar crawls? Lots of towns do it. Why can’t Hoboken? Oh wait, aren’t bar crawls already prohibited by Hoboken municipal ordinance??? Try doing your job Mayor and try enforcing the law, Chief.