TALE OF THE TAPE: Arrest Totals for Hoboken St. Patrick’s Day / LepreCon; 2 Policemen Hospitalized

Stats are in for Hoboken St. Patrick’s Day / LepreCon.

Despite countless warnings and a perceived, relative calm, it was still a taxing day for the Hoboken Police Department and multiple other units attempting to keep the celebration under control.

Arrests were up from 11 last year to 15 this year. While it was nowhere near 2011 levels, which featured wild throngs of emerald hued partygoers having their way with the streets of Hoboken, the day ended with two Hoboken Police Officers being injured and hospitalized.

This year, the HPD and outside agencies consisting of the Union City Police Department, North Bergen Police Department, Westfield Police Department, New Jersey Transit Police, Port Authority Police and the Hudson County Rapid Deployment Force responded to 432 calls for service between 8am Saturday and 4am Sunday, 27 less than the 459 responded to over the same time period last year.

There were 54 City Ordinance summonses issued mostly for drinking in public, with some being issued for urinating in public, disorderly house parties, and disorderly conduct. This is down considerably from the 93 issued last year. There were 16 motor vehicle moving violations summonses issued as well.

A total of 35 people were transported to hospitals, down slightly from 39 last year, and like last year, there were no reports of sexual assaults.

As for the injured HPD officers, they were responding to a fight at McDonald’s at 2:30am. Both were taken to Hoboken University Medical Center—one with three broken ribs, another with a dislocated shoulder. They were released earlier today and are both now out of work on injured status.

“I am disturbed by the repeated behavior that is occurring on these types of themed events, and have several measures that I am exploring with my command staff that I feel needs to be taken”, said a frustrated Hoboken Police Chief Ken Ferrante, who was live-tweeting incidents throughout the evening.

Ferrante added “I will not tolerate having any of our officers injured, for the purposes of a few to make a financial profit at the expense of our residents, and for the purposes of promoting deviant behavior attached to various holidays, which results in citizens and officers being hospitalized!”

Ferrante added, “I am proud of the efforts put forth by our officers who did everything possible to keep this city as safe as possible throughout the day and night, and thank all of the assisting agencies who helped us put 200 officers on the streets.”

Keep in mind, these official statistics are only indicative of the REPORTED incidents. Isolated acts of vandalism, including an upended port-o-potty at 126 Bloomfield Street (shown above), were also prevalent throughout the day.