The numbers are in, and Isla Vista’s Halloweens are just not what they used to be.

The three-day Halloween period, which began on last Thursday, yielded a total of 103 arrests and 143 criminal citations – a significant drop from the 123 arrests made during the same period last year and only one-tenth the number arrested during the notorious early ’90s Halloweens.

Of the 103 people arrested this year, 89 were charged with public intoxication. Forty-eight citations were issued for open container on public property, 64 for minor in possession and 15 people were cited for urinating in public. The remainder of the arrests and citations were given for providing false identification to deputies, fighting, loud music, battery, possession of marijuana, outstanding warrants and tampering with a vehicle.

Of those arrested and cited, 47 were UCSB students, 18 were Santa Barbara City College students and the remainder was either Santa Barbara residents or out-of-towners. The Isla Vista Foot Patrol crime statistics for the 2002 Halloween period listed 172 men as arrested or cited and 73 women; the gender of one person was not identified. Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Sgt. Phil Willis said overall there were not too many problems; however, there seemed to be an increase in the number of people out.

“Thursday was really busy in comparison to past Halloween nights,” he said. “The Friday and Saturday were pretty typical for a busy weekend.”

Of the serious crimes reported, Sgt. Willis said the IVFP is currently investigating a rape that was reported by a woman who was visiting from out of town.

“There was one reported rape Thursday night,” he said. “The victim was intoxicated and met a man on the 6500 block of Del Playa [Drive] on the street. She voluntarily accompanied him to his apartment on the beachside of Del Playa, where she was allegedly raped. The victim can’t describe the house where the incident occurred or the suspect.”

Sgt. Willis said he would like to remind women to party safely in I.V. and always make sure to stick with friends and drink responsibly.

“[The victim] came into the I.V. Foot Patrol station within three hours of when the incident occurred,” he said. “We’re still going to try and identify the suspect. Every rape victim this year has been drinking at some point in the evening when the rape occurred.”

Another incident of significance occurred on the 6700 block of Del Playa on Friday evening.

“A deputy on D.P. was talking to a young lady when somebody from a nearby party threw an unknown explosive device at the deputy. The device hit the ground and exploded in the deputy’s face, causing lacerations in his eyes,” Sgt. Willis said. “The female standing next to him suffered burns and puncture wounds to her leg. Both were transported, treated and released.”

Sgt. Willis said the explosive, which resembled an M-80 firecracker, came from the direction of a large party happening at a D.P. residence. By the time officers were able to move the injured deputy and woman to the intersection of Camino Del Sur and Sabado Tarde Road to meet ambulances, they returned to the residence to find only about ten people remaining at the party.

The rest of the weekend was fairly tame with no serious injuries, Sgt. Willis said.

“We had a fight on Trigo [Road] where a guy was hit with a beer bottle and another incident on Thursday or Friday night where a man was threatened with a knife during a fight; however, the knife wasn’t used,” he said. “But all-in-all, people were calmer than Halloweens in the early’90s.”

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