How police kept revelers safe at 2017 Pass Christian parade

The city’s police chief said increased safety steps helped alleviate concerns Sunday at the St. Paul Carnival Association Mardi Gras parade, marred last year by shootings that killed two men and wounded four others.

Estimated parade attendance Sunday was about 30,000, down 20,000 from last year’s estimate, police Chief Tim Hendricks said.

A larger police presence, more barricades and an earlier start time this year seemed to help keep down trouble, Hendricks said. As did setting up a command post in front of the Post Office on Ladnier Street, where an argument unrelated to last year’s parade escalated into gunfire. Two bystanders were killed in the crossfire.

Also, more streets, including U.S. 90, were closed to public parking Sunday. This year’s parade rolled at 11:30 a.m. Downtown streets were re-opened by 3 p.m.

“Just seeing a lot more police had to help,” Hendricks said. “The fact that we had relatively few arrests tells me there were not many problems.”

Police made eight arrests at the parade: two each for DUI and public drunkenness and four for disorderly conduct. Some of those arrested had additional charges, including drug possession, malicious mischief and possession of alcohol under age 21.

No juveniles were arrested, he said.

The only mishap involved a float that broke down, stalling the parade about 10 minutes.

The four parades that rolled across the Coast on Saturday appeared to have low arrests as well. Biloxi police Chief John Miller said one of three arrests involved a woman who was driving the wrong way while she smoked marijuana.

This story was originally published February 26, 2017 at 4:18 PM with the headline "How police kept revelers safe at 2017 Pass Christian parade."