Kent Safety Forces Strained by 'College Fest'

The dollars-and-cents cost of the safety responses to the events of "College Fest" on East College Avenue this weekend remain to be seen.

But one can be sure Kent's safety forces were taxed to the max when they had to try to disperse an estimated crowd of about 3,000.

The responded to 19 calls between 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 a.m. Sunday, averaging almost three calls per hour for seven straight hours.

"All but three (calls) were related to 'College Fest' activities," Kent Fire Chief James Williams said. "We were busier this year during 'College Fest' but were able to handle all of the responses with the help of Ravenna City, who we called over when things started to get very busy."

During that time, 22 firefighters and officers, plus the chief, staffed the department to respond to calls — that's about two-thirds of the department's entire staff.

Ravenna firefighters responed to two of Kent's calls during that seven-hour period Saturday, Williams said.

"This year's 'College Fest' was probably the busiest that we have been for a long time," he said.

Police stepped in to quell the unofficial block party, held to celebrate the end of the school year, after several fights and assualts occured. Police formed a skirmish line at about 7 p.m. to clear and close down East College Avenue using tear gas and sting balls filled with rubber pellets.

arrested 33 people related to the "College Fest" activities with about 100 officers on foot in the area of the block party. Nine people were charged with failure to disperse, eight people were charged with underage drinking, five were charged with disorderly conduct, three were charged with underage drinking and two were charged with felonious assault, according to police.

Kent Police Capt. Paul Canfield said the Brimfield Police Department, Metro SWAT, Portage County Sheriff's Office and Ohio Highway Patrol all provided officers this past weekend.

Some of those agencies will be compensated by Kent for providing officers, Canfield said.

"For Metro SWAT, there's no reimbursement amongst agencies," Canfield said. “Each agency pays what’s called a ‘fair-share fee’ that’s part of their membership in Metro SWAT. We do compensate the Portage County Sheriff’s Office for part of their officers."

Canfield said both Brimfield Police and the highway patrol responded via mutual aid, so both those agencies will absorb the costs of providing officers to Kent.

Kent Safety Director William Lillich said it will take a few days to compile the exact cost to Kent for safety responses to "College Fest" on Saturday. In 2009, when a huge bonfire was lit in the middle of College Avenue, the city's safety response cost about $25,000 when 50 people were arrested and several fires had to be extinguished.

Canfield said that, at some points, the police department's ability to respond to calls elsewhere in the city was limited by the activity on College Avenue.

"We’re still responsible for the rest of the city, so we have to be able to provide safety services to them," he said.

Williams said, fortunately, the fire department's responses to other calls were not effected by "College Fest."

"We were able to get our medic units back from the hospital before additional incidents came in," he said.