As UF Homecoming festivities swamp the streets on and around campus this weekend, Gainesville Police are planning to increase patrols in the city.
Friday and Saturday, GPD will increase the size of its party patrol, which handles issues like noise complaints, in addition to maintaining its normal roster of patrol officers.
More GPD officers will patrol downtown Gainesville.
GPD will also have a security detail of officers at Hemp Fest, which will run from noon to 11 p.m. Saturday on Bo Diddley Community Plaza.
The festival will include musical performances, as well as several speeches, including one by Jodi James of the Florida Cannabis Action Network.
The University Police Department won't change its gameday security routine, said Maj. Brad Barber, public information officer for UPD.
As usual, UPD will team with GPD, the Alachua County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Highway Patrol to handle security and safety issues on Saturday, he said. The agencies typically employ between 275 and 300 officers for gamedays.
"Typically, Homecoming games are fairly routine, and we don't usually experience a high volume of incidents," he said.
For last year's Homecoming football game against Mississippi State University, the majority of arrests were alcohol-related, according to GPD's Police 2 Citizen Web page.
On last year's Homecoming gameday, there were also 53 open container violations, according to the Web page.
