The IU Police Department was out in full force Saturday to cover the IU football home opener against Southern Illinois University.
Inside Memorial Stadium a close game unraveled with IU ultimately pulling out the 48-47 win, as IUPD officers manned posts at nearby intersections, in surrounding parking lots, at every stadium gate and within the stadium itself.
IUPD Lt. Andy Stephenson, who organizes shifts for all special events, said IUPD works every year with surrounding law enforcement agencies, including the Bloomington Police Department, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the Ellettsville Police Department and Indiana State Police “to give fans a better experience.”
While police presence is typical for most major athletic events at IU, Stephenson said football is by far the largest event IUPD covers, due in part to the amount of fans at the games.
He said planning for the event begins months in advance, adding that about 120 officers from all supporting agencies were on site throughout game day. Between 50 and 75 of those officers were full-time and part-time officers, as well as cadets, working for IUPD.
IUPD Officer Kyle Tevault, who worked at Saturday’s game, said the large police presence at IU football games is not intended to overwhelm football fans, but to ensure their safety.
“We want them to see our presence and know they are safe,” Tevault said.
Stephenson arrived as early as four hours before kickoff to act as a mobile supervisor, assign shifts and communicate with other agencies. In his pregame briefing, Stephenson said he typically addresses officer assignments and any unusual threats that may arise during a particular game.
At Saturday’s game, six to 10 bicycle officers patrolled tailgates as a reactive measure for safety concerns.
“We don’t want to take 150 people to jail and ruin the football game,” Tevault said.
Stephenson also dispelled the popular rumor of police officers using dogs to lure underage drinkers to an officer’s attention. He said IUPD did not use that or any similar tactic at tailgates.
Within the stadium, five to eight officers roamed concourses, and several officers were stationed on the field at the end of the game. Tevault, who was on the field, said this allowed officers to monitor the safety of the band and teams leaving the field, as well as the safety of the fans leaving the stadium.
“We can respond basically within seconds if something happens,” Tevault said.
Both Tevault and Stephenson said Saturday’s game went smoothly. Stephenson said as of Sunday he had not yet received any parking or traffic complaints and IUPD had only made one arrest during the game.
“There were no more than a handful from all agencies,” Stephenson said.
He added that the department’s strategy for game day coverage “changes from game to game.”
Saturday’s focus was on traffic flow in particular. Given the current road closure on Woodlawn Avenue, police redirected traffic to one way going east on East 13th Street and one way going west on East 14th Street between North Indiana Avenue and North Park Street.
“We did the best job we could with traffic,” Stephenson said.
Officers remained on site for about two hours after the end of the game, helping direct fans to their cars and monitor traffic leaving the area.
Stephenson said a close game tends to lead to more traffic leaving the stadium all at once. While Saturday’s game was an example of this — just seconds ticking down as Southern Illinois attempted a two-point conversion to win the game — Stephenson said he thought Labor Day weekend contributed to smaller crowd sizes.
Tevault said he expects the biggest crowds to be drawn in during Big Ten rivalries.
“If the fan base stays clam, typically it’s a good day for us,” Tevault said.
Despite being short a few barricades on Saturday, Stephenson said there wasn’t much that he would change to improve safety and security for future football games this season.
“We try to build on our experiences from games past, what works and what doesn’t,” Stephenson said.
At an event that Stephenson confirmed was “all hands on deck” for IUPD, most officers left the game having put in eight hours of work. However, Tevault said he didn’t seem to mind.
“I really enjoy working the football games,” Tevault said. “It’s kind of a unique opportunity to interact with people and show what IU’s all about.”
