London Police plan to attend sanctioned Western University homecoming this weekend

One of London’s top cops is telling students if they want to party, they should party responsibly.

After more than 11,000 people crowded Broughdale Avenue for an unsanctioned “fake homecoming” (or FOCO) event less than a month ago that led to nearly 1,000 police warnings, 60 charges, and 37 trips to the hospital, deputy police chief Darryl Longworth said enforcement for Western University’s official homecoming this weekend will be the same.

“I think the events that took place on Sept. 30th should have been a wake-up call to students that this is risky behaviour. It’s behaviour that could wind you up in the hospital, it’s behaviour that could wind you up with a ticket, or could wind you up with a criminal code or drug offence.”

And those aren’t the things people usually go to university for, he pointed out.

During a police services board meeting Thursday afternoon, Mayor Matt Brown thanked officers for doing an “exceptional” job, tackling what he refers to as a ‘high-risk situation’ during FOCO.

“The fact this continues to happen in our community is unacceptable,” he said.

For the second year in a row, Western University’s sanctioned homecoming event is being held on a late-October weekend rather than earlier in the fall.

Western University’s Mustangs football team will be taking on the University of Ottawa’s Gee-Gees at 1 p.m. on Saturday.