Last year’s St. Fratty’s Day saw most arrests and citations in the event’s history — by a lot
Last year’s St. Fratty’s Day saw the most citations and alcohol-related arrests since the city first began enforcing stricter fines at the street party near Cal Poly in 2013.
The 2024 edition, which drew thousands of student revelers into the streets and resulted in extensive damage on and off campus, represented a substantial escalation from previous years. And city and university leaders are determined to prevent a repeat performance this year.
More than half of the citations given over the past 11 St. Fratty’s Days were given in 2024 alone, while arrests tripled from the year before.
The city first enacted “safety enhancement zones” in 2004, after Mardi Gras partying ended in a riot that caused extensive damage to the homes near Foothill and California boulevards — the same area where St. Fratty’s Day partygoers have taken to the streets over the past decade.
During safety enhancement zone periods, fines are doubled from $350 to $700 for the first citation, then increased to $1,000 for all subsequent violations.
The Tribune analyzed data of citations and arrests over St. Patrick’s Day weekend celebrations dating back to 2013, when the city began adding safety enhancement zones to the weekend.
2024 saw double the arrests, three times the citations, from year before
From 2013 to 2023, the safety enhancement zone lasted 31 hours from midnight on March 17 to 7 a.m. on March 18. That changed in 2024, when the city implemented the ordinance over two separate weekends around the St. Patrick’s Day holiday.
Of note that year, the safety enhancement period covered three weekends, including two before St. Fratty’s Day itself.
More than 150 citations were given out in total in connection to St. Fratty’s Day partying in 2024 — more than three times the number of citations from the year before and the most by far of any year.
In total, 159 citations were issued in connection to St. Fratty’s Day in 2024. Only 13 of those citations occurred before the actual St. Fratty’s Day on March 16, the data showed.
Open container tickets made up 118 of the total citations in 2024, 20 tickets were noise disturbances, 12 were public urination and 9 were written for unruly gatherings.
Last year also saw the most arrests, more than doubling the number from the year before.
The total arrests related to St. Fratty’s Day was 35, with 17 occurring before March 16.
There were six suspected DUI charges, 12 minors in possession of alcohol, 18 public consumption of alcohol and 11 public intoxication. All criminal violations were recommended to go through the court system as at least misdemeanors, but it is unclear from the data if charges were filed in any of those cases.
According to San Luis Obispo County Assistant District Attorney Eric Dobroth, misdemeanor diversion was available for those accused of crimes in 2024 prior to charges being filed. That option will not be available this year.
Year with St. Fratty’s Day roof collapse saw 2 citations, 19 arrests
In 2015, St. Fratty’s Day celebrations in San Luis Obispo made national headlines after a roof collapsed under the weight of nearly 50 people, injuring eight of them.
According to the data provided by the city, one citation was written for a noise disturbance and another for public consumption of alcohol that year.
While 2015 saw the fewest citations, the year was middle of the pack for arrests with 19. Thirteen of those violations were for public intoxication, four were minors in possession of alcohol, one was public consumption of alcohol and one was a DUI.
The year with the most arrests other than 2024 was 2018, with 31 violations total. Public intoxication accounted for 25 of them, five were DUI and one was public consumption of alcohol.
The most DUIs was the year before in 2017, with seven arrests.
The year with the fewest arrests was 2020 in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, with two public intoxication violations recorded. That year saw 16 citations — 10 for noise disturbances, five for public consumption of alcohol and one unruly gathering.
The only minor with possession of a fake ID charge was in 2022.
This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 10:00 AM.
