Indiana University removed the bronze fish from Showalter Fountain leading up to the football team’s College Football Playoff National Championship game against the University of Miami. It was a proactive move to avoid a repeat of several fish thefts from previous championships and other sporting events.
But if law enforcement activity is anything to go by, perhaps Venus was safe in her pond after all.
Following a night of revelry to celebrate Indiana’s national championship win Monday, Bloomington Police Department Capt. Ryan Pedigo detailed a night of few arrests in a press release Jan. 20.
In the release, Pedigo wrote some businesses on the 400 block of Kirkwood Avenue reported external damages, but no burglaries or looting incidents. BPD only arrested one person over the course of the night — an intoxicated driver in an alleyway near Kirkwood Avenue and Dunn Street.
Pedigo noted additional police and emergency response presence helped keep the crowd on Kirkwood Avenue in check, thanking Indiana State Police, the Bloomington Fire Department and other city organizations for their presence.
The IU Police Department logged 20 crime reports between the hours of 7:30 p.m. Jan. 19 and 6 a.m. Jan. 20, nine of which came from Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall — the location for the official university watch party.
IUPD Public Information Officer Hannah Cornett wrote in an email the department made only three arrests in that period, just one of them being an IU student. Several of the reports on the crime log referred to the same Assembly Hall incident in which a student was arrested for underage consumption of alcohol, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and possession of a fake ID.
Some noteworthy incidents, according to BPD, included the burning of a couch, a tradition popularized at West Virginia University as a celebration of sporting victories. Police also noted another piece of flaming furniture — a recliner, Pedigo guessed in the release, that had been charred beyond recognition at the time of its discovery.
In addition to the few vandalized Kirkwood Avenue buildings, police reported several street signs were broken and carried away. A group of fans also managed to summit a building near the corner of Kirkwood Avenue and Dunn Street.
Altogether, IUPD and BPD reported only four arrests.
“...we appreciate the Hoosier fans that celebrated without destroying property or creating dangerous situations,” Pedigo said in the release. “Go Hoosiers!”
