Thirty-four gameday arrests have been made during the 2017 season’s first two games. 32 arrests were made in total during the 2016 season’s seven games. Credit: Jack Westerheide | Photo Editor
More arrests have been made on gameday the first two home football games this season than all seven of the Buckeyes’ 2016 home games. Additionally, more people were arrested at each of this year’s home games than any single home game last year.
The 34 total gameday arrests the past two weeks exceed the 32 made throughout the entire 2016 season, the first season that alcoholic beverages were sold in the stadium during games.
Twenty-one gameday arrests were made Sept. 9 — 13 inside the stadium during the Oklahoma game and eight outside the stadium — and 13 arrests were made Saturday — 12 inside during the matchup against Army, and another one outside — according to information provided by the Ohio State Department of Public Safety.
According to the University Police online crime log, half of this year’s arrests — 11 during the Oklahoma game and six during the Army game — were for offenses involving underage persons.
Last football season, the most stadium arrests made during a single game were nine, during the Rutgers game Oct. 1.
In addition to the 2017 arrests thus far, nine people were ejected during the Oklahoma game and five were ejected during the Army game. No alcohol citations were issued in those ejections.
Twenty-five people were ejected and four alcohol citations were issued in 2016. Combined with arrests, there were 61 incidents total.
There have been 48 total incidents in this year’s two home games, just 13 shy of matching the 2016 season’s seven-game total.
By comparison, 175 incidents were reported across the seven home games in 2015, though only 25 of those were arrests, with the remaining 110 being citations and ejections.
“Each game is different and many factors can affect law enforcement data including the time of game, weather and enforcement,” Dan Hedman, an Ohio State spokesman, said in an email regarding the arrests.
The vast majority of arrests both years were alcohol-related.
Twenty-eight of this year’s 34 arrests were involving alcohol. Twenty-seven of last year’s 32 were involving alcohol, as well.
The Lantern reported the sale of alcohol during 2016 games coincided with a sharp drop in total gameday incidents — arrests, citations and ejections — compared with the previous season when alcohol was not sold.
Despite the decline in total incidents, arrests in 2016 increased compared to the previous 2015 season, which University Police Chief Stone attributed to the presence of more alcohol in the stadium and more plainclothes officers from the Ohio Investigative Unit.
