Despite busy nights at the bars, local police departments arrested few people on alcohol-related charges during St. Patrick's Day celebrations, according to police.
First Sgt. Rhonda Clark of the Ball State University Police Department said there were no arrests or citations for alcohol violations Monday night leading into Tuesday morning.
"There are just some nights that go by that we don't have that type of activity," Clark said.
She said she did not know how the arrest numbers compared to previous St. Patrick's Days.
Other police departments had similar results despite the holiday.
Sgt. Bruce Qualls of the Muncie Police Department said the department also made no arrests on charges of driving under the influence, despite an extra officer patrolling on duty for the night.
Sgt. Rod Russell of the Redkey District of the Indiana State Police Department said troopers made four arrests on charges of driving under the influence, one of which was a felony charge because it was a second offense. State police also made three arrests on charges of minor consumption, Russell said.
Five state troopers patrolled for intoxicated drivers in the five counties in the Redkey District on Monday night, he said.
"There was nothing really out of the ordinary [for St. Patrick's Day]," he said. "We are consistent with trying to curb impaired driving."
The number of arrests is about average compared to previous St. Patrick's Days, Russell said, but he was optimistic about the trend.
"In comparison of numbers, we feel the number of arrests that we made during that time would be reflected upon that it appears people are getting the message about having designated drivers," he said. "In the great scheme of things, it shows that those numbers weren't extraordinary. It wasn't due to a lack of efforts on our part. People are just being more responsible. We'd like to move that forward."
All the police departments said they already had extra officers patrolling for drunken drivers as part of Operation Pull Over, which began March 7 and will end Sunday.
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