EAST LANSING — It’s folklore. When Michigan State gets into the men’s basketball Final Four, the college town surrounding the land grant university is likely to burst into chaotic behavior — burning couches, flashing, throwing bottles, riot-clad officers walking the streets, tear gas lingering the air and burning the nose. And history, East Lansing Police Chief Tom Wibert said in an interview this week, proves the lore is more fact than fiction.

“The times MSU has been in the Final Four — 1999, 2000, 2003 and 2005 — we’ve had disturbances every time other than 2000,” Wibert said, referring to the year when the Spartans beat Florida in the championship game. And even that year, Wibert said, led to the largest crowd in East Lansing history. Twenty thousand revelers were estimated to have taken to the streets nine years ago, although the crowd was largely in the mood to celebrate peacefully instead of rioting.

“So, given that precedent, we are in the Final Four now, and there is no question we will have a crowd,” Wibert said. “What we hope for is a celebratory crowd.”

Half joking, Wibert added: “So I don’t want to put any undue pressure on the basketball team, but for those guys to win the championship would do a lot of good for public safety.”

If the team wins and the city experiences a relatively orderly public celebration, he said, “I’ll pin a medal on them.”

Michigan State plays Connecticut Saturday in the NCAA championship semifinals. The finals are Monday night.

Hoping for the Best, Preparing for the Worst

But Wibert and his team, including Lt. Tom Johnstone and Lt. Kym Johnson, are not taking any chances this weekend. Preparations to deal with any crowds — riotous or celebratory — are under way. Wibert declined to discuss details of the preparations, citing security protocols, but he did note that East Lansing had initiated procedures under mutual aid agreements, meaning police and emergency medical responders from jurisdictions all over Ingham and Eaton counties are being mobilized. Some of those agencies will participate in policing crowds, while others will be used to respond to calls outside the areas where disturbances might occur.

East Lansing has certainly had experience dealing with civil disturbances. Not only were there previous riots associated with MSU Final Four appearances, but there were the alcohol-fueled Gunson Street Riots in 1997, the Munn Field Riots of 1998 and most recently the CedarFest Riots of 2008. (For Michigan Messenger coverage of the fall out of the 2008 CedarFest riots, visit here, here, here and here. Commentaries from the CedarFest Riots by Ed Brayton, Todd Heywood and Nolan Treadway are also available.) But this time, if crowds get out of control, Wibert and his team have a new law to gain and maintain control of the streets.

The new law is a local ordinance — Ordinance 1216 (pdf) — which defines several acts that police can use to arrest subjects for participating in a “riot.” Among those:

  • Throwing or propelling or causing to be propelled any object which includes, but is not limited to, discharging fire extinguishers or deploying fireworks as defined by MCL 750.243a(1)(a).
  • Damaging, destroying, injuring or defacing any public property or private property not their own.
  • Meddling with any deployed riot control agent.
  • Exposing their buttocks, genitalia, or, if a female, exposing their breasts.
  • Wearing a gas mask, helmet, or protective clothing for the purpose of avoiding the affects (sic) of deployed riot control agents or for the purpose of meddling with deployed riot control agents.
  • Wearing a mask or taking other measures to hide their identity.
  • Participating in chants or taunts directed toward the police.
  • Walking or running through a police line or otherwise obstructing the police in the discharge of their duties.
  • Refusing or failing to leave a public street or sidewalk after an order to do so is given by a police officer.
  • Remaining on a street, sidewalk or other public property where a riot control agent has been deployed within that area or returning to said street or sidewalk or other public property within 2 hours after a riot control agent has been deployed in that area other than to directly traverse the area to get to a destination outside of the area.
  • Remaining on a street, sidewalk or other public property after a public announcement has been made over a loud speaker that an assembly on that street, sidewalk or that public property is an unlawful assembly or returning to a street or sidewalk or other public property within 2 hours after such an announcement has been made other than to directly traverse the area to get to a destination outside of the area.
  • Starting a fire or placing combustible items onto a fire.
  • Engaging in a physical fight or pushing or shoving persons other than in self defense.
  • Cheering, applauding or otherwise encouraging any of the conduct identified in sub-paragraphs (a) through (m) of this paragraph

    • The East Lansing City Council passed the ordinance on March 17. But even before its passage, the Lansing area branch of the American Civil Liberties Union had concerns about the measure.

    “The ACLU opposed the language,” said chapter president Carol Koenig. “The language was broad, riot was not defined — it would be helpful if it were in the ordinance.”

    “It’s not illegal to cheer. It is not illegal to applaud,” she said. “Here’s the trick: When is it a riot?”

    “If — and it’s a big if — the East Lansing Police Department and the people enforcing this ordinance pay careful attention to act on these only after a riot has been declared,” Koenig said, “then there should not be an issue.”

    Wibert said there would need to be no declaration or warning that a riot was under way for police to make arrests under the new ordinance. Thus, anyone accused of actions outlawed in the new ordinance could be arrested when and if police determine a riot is happening.

    “A riot isn’t declared. A riot is based on behavior. When there is a crowd of five or more, that meets the legal definition of a riot,” he said. “We don’t declare a riot; it just is.”

    The state law about riots reads:

    It is unlawful and constitutes the crime of riot for 5 or more persons, acting in concert, to wrongfully engage in violent conduct and thereby intentionally or recklessly cause or create a serious risk of causing public terror or alarm.

    What can be declared, Wibert said, is an unlawful assembly — which, according to state law, is a gathering of four or more people. Once an unlawful assembly has been declared, police are authorized to use chemical munitions and other less-than-lethal weapons, tear gas and flash-bangs, to control crowds.

    “An unlawful assembly is a symptom of a riot,” he said.

    “The cornerstone of due process is notice,” Koenig said. “Common sense would tell you if there is no way for you to know what you are doing is illegal, it doesn’t seem fair (to enforce the law).”

    “I’m worried about the whole thing,” Koenig said. “I really hope the kids have a good time and don’t act up.”

    Being arrested for participating in a riot could lead not only to criminal conviction, but mandatory expulsion for up to two years from all public educational institutions in Michigan. People convicted of participating in a riot can also be held legally responsible to pay the costs incurred by police and other public entities in breaking the riot up and any damages done.