By Jordan Corona
Staff Writer
Waco police reported no arrests or citations in connection with Diadeloso celebrations yesterday.
“As a police department, we have to plan for the worst,” Waco Police Department Public Affairs Officer, Sgt. Patrick Swanton said. Though a large number of officers had been assigned to patrol in neighborhoods about the periphery of campus, Swanton said police encountered few noise violations, no alcohol-related concerns and issued only a few traffic citations.
Boerne junior Margaret Riggins spent the day with friends and an inflatable pool in a backyard off Ninth Street. She said she thought there were more police about the neighborhood than in years past.
“I think the police can be not very nice,” Riggins said. “It’s almost like they prematurely assume we’re doing something wrong.”
Riggins said though officers had not confronted her at all that day, she had seen more people being pulled over for traffic citations with the increased number of squad cars in the area.
Ashville, N.C. junior Phillip Roberts said this year’s celebration wasn’t much like his experience two years ago.
He said he felt like the police weren’t as involved during previous Diadeloso celebrations.
“There’s no one here this year,” Roberts said. “Coming back from the BSR Cable Park, there were a bunch of state troopers looking for speeding.”
Members of a few fraternities organized a private party with musical guest Woka Floka Flame at the BSR Cable Park on Old Mexia Road with rides to shuttle attendees between campus and the event.
Swanton, who manages Facebook and Twitter for the department said on the social media sites, “Whoever’s idea it was to have a private event at a secure location…that was OUTSTANDING!!”
In an interview later that afternoon, Swanton said he thought social media was helpful preparing Baylor students and the community in being informed, and to bridge a distance between the police and partiers.
“So much of the time we’re involved with people’s lives in a bad ways,” he said. “We want our Facebook and Twitter to be a little lively. We think it’s important getting information out there.”
