Police Double Pirate Party Arrests
Kay Bailey
She/Her
Editor-in-Chief
10/19/24
Pirate Party, and its many reputations, needs no introduction at Plymouth State. On October 13th, the University Police and Plymouth Police departments arrested 46 pirate partiers. UPD Chief Lefebvre noted that though most of the arrests have been booked and documented, he estimates that the true number of arrests sits somewhere around 55, accounting for cases that are still open.
Between the arrest reports from UPD and PPD, the charges are as follows:
- 20 counts of Unlawful Possession / Intoxication
- 12 counts of Open Container
- 10 counts of Protective Custody of Intoxicated Person
- 7 counts of Disorderly Actions
- 6 counts of Resisting Arrest
- 1 count of Disorderly Action – Public Urination
- 1 count of Disorderly Action – Misuse of Power
- 1 count of Possession of a Fake ID
- 1 count of Use of Tobacco by a Minor
- 1 count of Criminal Trespass
Last year, only 23 arrests were made during the week of Pirate Party, according to PPD’s weekly logs and reports. While police efforts were substantial when the party moved into the student apartments, the arrests amounted to only half of what we saw this year. The town and local law enforcement demonstrated they had both the capacity and the willingness to carry out a genuine police effort to stomp out the festivities.
After admitting failure in last year’s efforts to move Pirate Party off the streets of Plymouth and onto campus, this year’s determent plan instead saw UPD and Student Life collaborate with Holderness Police to set up an on-campus detainment center across the river from the main campus. Student Life Director Jess Dutille referred to the station as “a safe sober space” where students could go, voluntarily, as an alternative to being locked up in a jail cell at the Plymouth police department or an hour away at the county jail in Haverhill.
Dutille suggested that this detainment space is something not normally condoned at other universities, but she stressed that Student Life’s priority is the safety of students above all else. The room at ALLWell North was staffed with an EMT, Holderness police officers, a member of Student Life, and food and water for overly inebriated students. Dutille and the Student Life team wanted to avoid sending Plymouth students an hour away if it wasn’t necessary, she said.
Lefebvre noted the detainment center was offered to students who were arrested under protective custody charges. Once booked at PPD, Lefebvre said it was a “no-brainer” for Plymouth Staters to choose sobering up in the classroom instead of a harsh, cement jail cell. 6 students used the facility, lessening the strain on the local station with the abundance of arrests. Non-students were not offered the same detainment option at ALLWell.
Most of the rhetoric surrounding Pirate Party has been that it’s non-student’s who turn the gathering into the exciting rager that it’s known for, taking our PSU students as far out of the picture as they reasonably can. The main antagonizers are “not our Plymouth State University students” town manager Scott Weeden reiterated in a Student Senate meeting early this semester. Donald Birx and Dutille echoed this sentiment.
However, according to UPD’s arrest report, 13 of their arrests were PSU students, while only 9 were non-students.