London's police chief is urging Western University to hold its students accountable following this past weekend's "fake homecoming" that saw thousands of people pack into a dead-end street in the city's north side.
Calling the unsanctioned student event a "threat to public safety", Chief John Pare said more must be done after "fake homecoming", or FOCO, on Saturday resulted in 134 charges for 132 party-goers, more than 3,100 warnings and more than 50 people treated at hospital. The London Fire Department also found fire code violations at 30 residences.
During a news conference on Tuesday, the leaders of London’s police, fire and paramedic services said that an estimated 20,000 people flocked to Broughdale Avenue during the event, which caused immense strain on emergency services throughout the city. The cost for policing alone is expected to be more than $100,000, according to Chief Pare, which includes the cost of bringing nearly 30 York Regional Police officers in to complement the dozens of officers that were already on duty.
London Police Chief John Pare speaks during a press conference on October 2, 2018 at London Police Headquarters to address the city's "fake homecoming" event on Broughdale Avenue. (Photo by Miranda Chant, Blackburn News)
While he admitted that no single stakeholder or agency will be able to solve the issues caused by events like FOCO, Pare said Western University students and administration must play a role in addressing this public safety issue.
"I ask that Western administration take steps to hold their students accountable for inappropriate behaviour that is impacting our entire community," he said. "Just because it is occurring in an off-campus neighbourhood does not absolve them from responsibility in addressing this behaviour."
Of the 132 people who were issued public offence notices, 120 of them were students from Western.
Pare vowed to continue looking for a solution to the problems caused by FOCO and said he is calling on the university to do more to rein in its post-secondary students.
"Obviously the fines are not making a difference when it comes to the enforcement, but maybe not getting your marks at the end of the year or not being allowed to carry on in your post-secondary education might send the message a little bit stronger," he said, suggesting the university use its code of conduct to implement sanctions against students. "As we saw Saturday, there is a total lack of respect for the community."
Western University issued a statement late Tuesday evening condemning the illegal street party and the actions of those who attended.
"The behaviours of those on Broughdale are incongruent with our values as a university and do not reflect school spirit. Our administration knows how terribly this situation reflects on the University and our students," said Jennifer Massey, Western's associate vice-president of student experience, in the statement. "Western’s administration agrees with Chief John Pare that students and others who attend this party need to recognize the impact they are having on the community and take responsibility for their actions."
Massey said the university is committed to changing the culture that leads to this unsanctioned street party, however, she admitted that it could take several years to achieve.
She said Western will be meeting with London police and other community partners in the weeks ahead to discuss how to "resolve the Broughdale problem".
"The next steps are critical. We cannot be the sole arbitrators of behaviour," said Pare. "We cannot rely on a police-centric approach, nor can we rely heavily on enforcement as the mechanism to control behaviour."
The police chief applauded the efforts of Western's student council to organize Purple Fest in an effort to detract from attendance at FOCO. However, it did not seem to have the desired effect.
"Unfortunately, it did not address the issues we had on Broughdale and, in fact, seemed to magnify the issue based on the numbers we saw that clogged the streets and surrounding areas," he said
The crowd at FOCO this year was almost twice as large than it was in 2017, which saw 11,000 people cram into Broughdale Avenue (9,000 fewer than this year).
“Our efforts to proactively patrol to dissuade unlawful acts and inappropriate behaviour quickly shifted to crowd management to minimize the negative impact and mitigate the risk to officers and public safety caused by the large crowds,” Chief Pare said.
While a total of 28 people were transported to hospital from Broughdale Avenue during a three-hour period Saturday afternoon, just over 50 were treated in London hospitals as a result of FOCO-related activities.
The Broughdale Avenue event began in 2016 as a response from students to the university’s decision to move the official Homecoming celebrations from September to late October. University officials moved the annual function as a way of curbing rowdy student partying as October brings cooler weather and mid-terms, which deter street parties.
-With files from Miranda Chant
Drone footage shows how packed Broughdale Avenue became during "fake homecoming" on September 29, 2018. (Photo of London police footage by Miranda Chant, Blackburn News)
Drone footage shows how packed Broughdale Avenue became during "fake homecoming" on September 29, 2018. (Photo of London police footage by Miranda Chant, Blackburn News)