Public urination most-cited crime during SLO’s St. Patrick’s Day

By all accounts, St. Patrick’s Day festivities in San Luis Obispo were largely problem-free on Thursday, with fewer people arrested for public drunkenness.

However, far more people were caught driving under the influence and urinating in public this year than in 2015, according to numbers released Friday by the San Luis Obispo Police Department.

On Thursday, police made five DUI arrests and two arrests on suspicion being intoxicated in public. Nine people were issued citations for urinating in public, three were cited for open alcohol containers and one citation was issued to a minor in possession of alcohol.

That’s far more citations this year but slightly fewer arrests compared with last year. On March 17, 2015, eight people were arrested on suspicion public intoxication, two people were cited for being a minor in possession of alcohol and one was cited for an open container. The police did not record any DUIs or public urination citations last year.

In a news release Friday, the Police Department thanked Cal Poly and the University Police Department for their outreach as well as the student population “that made appropriate decisions to drink and behave responsibly.”

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 12:55 PM with the headline "Public urination most-cited crime during SLO’s St. Patrick’s Day."