Police prepare for Homecoming; three agencies will have officers on call

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Local law enforcement agencies are banding together in preparation for Central Michigan University’s weekend Homecoming festivities.

The Mount Pleasant Police and the Isabella County Sheriff’s Department will provide extra officers to help the CMU Police Department patrol tailgating Saturday. Officers will be on call from both departments if additional assistance is necessary.

“If need be, they’re already on duty, we’ll call them in,” said CMU Police Chief Bill Yeagley.

CMU Police will return the favor by being on call for the other departments after CMU’s football game against Miami of Ohio.

Yeagley said his officers can be dispatched to off-campus apartments to prevent any department from being overworked.

“We would use some of our additional resources to aid them,” Yeagley said. “If there’s problems anywhere within the community, we’ll help each other.”

MPPD Public Information Officer Jeff Browne said his department is also bringing in extra officers for the weekend.

“There are going to be officers working overtime on the weekend to make Homecoming weekend a success,” Browne said.

The MPPD and Sheriff’s Department normally provide between two and four officers each to assist with tailgating. Yeagley said this weekend there will be four officers from each department helping out.

The number of officers at each station will be increased, but Yeagley said the department is looking to remain flexible and send officers where needed.

Yeagley said he is unsure how many extra people will be in Mount Pleasant for the game, but he anticipates a crowd similar to last year’s Homecoming.

“I am really uncomfortable guessing, other than it will be larger than the first few games,” Yeagley said.

With the extra people in town, Yeagley said he hopes people will make smart decisions and help each other out.

“Take care of one another, take care of each other,” he said. “Typically, it’s just a handful of people making those poor decisions.”