Large crowds, unruly students and alcohol are enough to cause law enforcement officers to wield riot gear during the Athens fests.
The Athens Police Department, Ohio University Police Department and, at times, the Athens County Sheriff’s Office patrol the streets of each fest to control the area. The guns and other firearms used serve other purposes.
Aside from firing bullets, Sgt. Thomas Holbert of the Ohio State Highway Patrol said the weapons also have the capability to fire off noisemakers, rubber balls and tear gas.
“It may be better to have (the guns) at hand and never use them, than be in a situation where they were needed only to find you left them several blocks away in the trunk of a car,” Holbert said.
While officers and deputies stay alert in party areas with weapons, they must abide by certain guidelines for how much force law enforcement officials and security officers should use in given scenarios.
Holbert said his officers at the Ohio State Highway Patrol base their actions on the events going on around them and the actions directed toward them. If an emergency situation arises, Holbert or another officer will give a verbal command and go from there.
Students have mixed reactions about law enforcement bringing firearms to fests, but Lauren Somerville, an OU senior studying health science administration, said bringing guns is completely unnecessary.
“There’s too much at risk,” she said. “(The police) already have horses and other weapons, and I don’t think anybody at the fest is going to bring guns, so I find it very unnecessary.”
Though some see the guns as unnecessary in a party setting, Kevin Martin, chief instructor at the Hilltop Gun Club, said law enforcers have a responsibility to carry firearms as a safety precaution.
“They carry (the guns) to control the crowd. It’s for their protection as much as it is for the innocents and normal people,” Martin said. “There’s no difference from law enforcement officers carrying their firearm(s) at a gas station or a funeral party than at a party.”
Martin cited the OU riots in spring 1970 in which he said students were throwing dynamite and homemade firebombs at law enforcement.
“(Students) have no reason to riot today. They just get drunk and have fun and do stupid (stuff) like set couches on fire,” he said. “That’s (the police’s) job, and they’re trained and qualified to bring their firearms in case they need to use them.”
On one hand, police carry the weapons as a safety precaution, but on the other hand, some students see the weapons as a threat.
“People and college students are turning into a bunch of sissies and pansies and they want everything to be some kind of utopia,” Martin said. “I think young kids 18, 19, 20 years old don’t understand the real importance and necessities of firearms from the media or TV or movies.”
Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said today’s society is a violent one and requires his officers to be armed 24/7.
“At fests, at any place a police officer goes, he’s a target, and he needs to be able to defend himself and defend others as well,” he said.
Athens Sheriff Pat Kelly said he doesn’t see carrying weapons in public and at fests as a threat; rather, he sees weapons as a tool that his officers may need to use if a situation requires it.
“If a situation arises where I need my Special Response Team to come in, they will be equipped for any situation,” Kelly said. “(These weapons) don’t have to be used for deadly force.”
Kelly said it is just a small percentage of students at OU who are the source of problems.
“I just don’t like to see (law enforcement officers) go overboard, because sometimes that creates more of an atmosphere for violence,” Kelly said. “When students come out and destroy property and create problems, I think that there’s a lot of students at Ohio University are pretty tired of seeing that stuff.”
az346610@ohiou.edu
