Additional officers unnecessary after UA loss

Three Tucson police agencies gearing up for a repeat of last March's national championship street celebrations are beginning to breathe easy after Utah stopped the Wildcats' run to the Final Four Saturday.

University police Cmdr. Brian Seastone said that although there were no serious eruptions of chaos on campus last year, officers began training in January to prepare for this year's championship in case other agencies needed to call for backup.

Hundreds of Wildcat fans took to the streets near campus March 31, seconds after the buzzer ended the game against Kentucky and declared Arizona national champions. Crazed fans spilled out of local bars, clogged streets, flipped over cars and broke windows. Some even ran naked down North Fourth Avenue.

If the Wildcats won this year, Seastone said, "Nobody would have been off-duty, everybody would have worked."

Sgt. Brad Foust, a Pima County Sheriff's Department spokesman, said 80 deputies took part in additional crowd control training this year. They were available Saturday to assist Tucson police, who were out in force on Fourth Avenue anyway because of the Spring Street Fair „ regardless of the West Regional Final outcome.

The additional reinforcements would have been on hand, clad in riot gear, for this year's championship game as a show of force to discourage any behavior that would result in property damage or personal injury, Foust said.

Tucson police Sgt. Eugene Mejia said he was anticipating a win and expected large crowds for Saturday's game, but most of the 40 officers deployed were sent home by the time the game was over.

"A lot of people were caught off-guard; we were expecting celebrators," Mejia said.

Last year, Tucson police arrested about 15 people for criminal damage and disorderly conduct after the Wildcats won the national championship. They fired pepper gas, wooden projectiles and flex batons „ small bags filled with rubber pellets „ to disperse the crowds that were still celebrating after 2:30 a.m.

Foust said several deputies were treated for lacerations inflicted by flying bottles and other debris thrown during the melee.

He said the department's SWAT team was on hand along with 65 sheriff's deputies, who were called out to assist Tucson police because of the size of the crowd, estimated to be more than 10,000 strong.

"Last year we pretty much scrambled to get out there," Foust said. "Our guys called it a riot."

But Mejia said not all of the celebrators were looting stores, breaking windows and turning over cars.

"We also enjoyed celebrating the win," he said, but added that police would have been deployed this year, had the Wildcats made the championship, to deter criminal acts or "people stepping over the boundaries of celebration."