East Lansing police arrested 35 people and issued 134 citations during MSU's Welcome Weekend, up from 10 arrests a year ago.
The East Lansing Police Department released preliminary figures on Tuesday, Sept. 1, covering activity from Friday, Aug. 28, through Sunday, Aug. 30. Officers responded to 348 calls for service over the three days. During Welcome Weekend 2025, the department made 10 arrests and received 52 calls for service, according to WKAR.
The department has not disclosed how many of the 35 people arrested were MSU students. In 2025, only two of the 10 arrests involved students.
More than 100 personnel from nine entities staffed the operation, including seven law enforcement agencies and two community organizations, according to the city's press release. Partner agencies included Michigan State Police, the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety and mounted units from the Oakland County Sheriff's Office. Funding came through public safety revenue sharing from the State of Michigan, with additional support from the East Lansing Downtown Development Authority.
As we reported Monday, arrests were already mounting by midweekend. Eleven of those happened Friday night into Saturday morning, WLNS reported. A WLNS crew witnessed one arrest around 2:30 a.m. Sunday in which multiple officers stood over a person lying face-down on the ground, with one officer holding what appeared to be a Taser.
Police were visible throughout the weekend with units on horseback, officers on bikes, a Michigan State Police helicopter and ELPD drones.
The East Lansing Fire Department conducted capacity checks at bars and restaurants. The Michigan Liquor Control Commission (MLCC) verified IDs and checked whether bars were serving underage drinkers, according to the city's release.
Weekend deployment follows civil rights lawsuit
The large-scale operation came one year after an incident that prompted a civil rights lawsuit and calls for Police Chief Jennifer Brown's resignation.
During Welcome Weekend 2025, two Black men in their early 20s, Mason Woods and Lonnie Smith, were pepper-sprayed and arrested outside a downtown Dave's Hot Chicken. Charges were later dropped. Woods and Smith sued the city and the department, alleging excessive force, false arrest and libel, according to WKAR's Aug. 24 report.
The East Lansing Human Rights Commission determined that police had racially discriminated against the two men and ordered $50,000 in restitution for each. As of Aug. 24, neither man had received payment from the city, according to their attorney, Jack Rucker of Nova Law.
"When you're a young man, you go to East Lansing downtown to hang out, to meet with friends, to go to events … and to have to feel like you are looking over your shoulder constantly out of concern about what might happen by the people who are there to protect you is devastating," Rucker told WKAR on Aug. 24, ahead of the weekend.
In the department's Tuesday release, Brown said the weekend's events matched expectations and called public safety a shared responsibility. ELPD also said it will remain visible throughout the fall, especially during football weekends.
The Sept. 1 figures are preliminary. A final report has not been released.
