Running up a tab: OT costs total $12K for Fred Fest policing
Fredonia Police Chief David Price summarized the damage from Fred Fest Wednesday.
“We had 520 man hours in two days. Just in overtime, it cost my department $12,000,” the chief told Fredonia’s Board of Trustees about the May 4 and 5 edition of SUNY Fredonia students’ annual spring party weekend.
“We had 265 documented incidents and so far 46 arrests from the two-day period,” Price said. “There are several investigations still under investigation and open. Given the nature and the players, I’m not sure if we’ll ever close those investigations.”
Besides the numerous open-container charges, serious incidents that included a gunshot victim, stabbings and a serious beating of an individual were reported.
Price and Fire Chief Joshua Myers said they submitted reports to Mayor Michael Ferguson about Fred Fest activities by their departments.
Ferguson repeated his earlier statement that he is trying to get a community stakeholders committee together to tackle the problem of Fred Fest lawbreaking.
Fred Fest started on campus as a music festival but SUNY Fredonia canceled it in 2015 over concerns about misbehavior. The students took their spring weekend partying off campus in an event sometimes dubbed “Not Fred Fest.”