Santa Cruz Halloween arrests down

The Santa Cruz Police Department responded to more than 300 calls for service and arrested more than a dozen people Halloween night.

According to SCPD, more than 9,000 people celebrated the night in downtown Santa Cruz.

“The Santa Cruz Police Department is pleased to announce that Halloween 2017 transpired without any significant incidents of violence during the festivities downtown,” said SCPD spokesperson, Joyce Blaschke.

From 8 a.m. on October 31 to 8 a.m. on November 1 the department responded to 342 emergency calls. 18 people were arrested for public intoxication, warrants or drugs. In total, 42 people were cited, most of which were for an open container. 15 of the 42 citations were triple fines.

Officers said a majority of the crowd was calm and celebratory. The Santa Cruz County law enforcement agencies helping with patrols included, Capitola PD, Watsonville PD, Scotts Valley PD, UCSC PD, Santa Cruz City Parks, and Santa Cruz County Probation.

“Proactive patrols included contact and close monitoring of several known gang members throughout the event. Officers were added to patrol throughout the remainder of the city to address neighborhood safety and complaints of large parties. We are pleased to see the hard work paid off and there were no significant incidents of violence,” said Blaschke.

In 2016, there were 20 arrests and 40 citations.