Updated at 3:16 p.m., Wednesday, November 28, 2007
City to provide extra police again for UH football game
Advertiser Staff
Mayor Mufi Hannemann announced today that the city will again provide additional staffing for Saturday's regular season-ending football game between the University of Hawai'i and University of Washington at Aloha Stadium.Kickoff is 6:30 p.m., about a half hour later than normal.
"The strong city presence at last Friday's game between Hawai'i and Boise State, combined with Coach June Jones' call for aloha on the part of fans and cautions about potential traffic congestion, meant that the event was relatively problem-free," Hannemann said. "We hope a similar effort this weekend, combined with additional Football Express! bus service, will contribute to another successful event and a victory by the Warriors."
The city will have technicians manually operating traffic signals at key intersections surrounding Aloha Stadium.
The Honolulu Police Department will have 130 officers for security, 14 more than normal for a UH football game. About half the officers will be deployed within the stadium and the remainder will be assigned to the parking lot and nearby roadways. Additional on-duty officers will be on the field after the game. HPD officers did not make any arrests at last week's game, but 12 persons were escorted to the stadium security office for unruly behavior.
The Honolulu Fire Department will have two battalion commanders on-site.
TheBus will schedule 39 UH Football Express! trips to the stadium, about one-third more than last week. The Football Express! carried 4,100 fans to and from the Boise game, an increase of 50 percent over the Fresno contest and an all-time record for the UH service. Ridership so far this season has totaled 13,600 (a roundtrip counts as two rides).