Belleville Police Crack Down on Mischief Night

Mischief night. Devils Night. Goosey Night. Whatever you call the night before Halloween, there was a different word for it in Belleville this year.

Quiet. 

Belleville cops hit the streets this year to cut down on pre-holiday crime and mischief in “Operation Dark Knight.” From 5 p.m. until midnight on Oct 30, 26 Belleville police officers were organized into “saturation patrols” designed to deter crime through what members of the department termed police "omnipresence."

Over the course of the night, officers conducted 24 field interviews and made 10 traffic stops.  Belleville Captain Jack Baumgartner, Incident Commander for the operation, said the techniques employed were effective in deterring vandalism and other criminal mischief.

“Normally, on mischief night, a lot of bad stuff happens,” Belleville Captain Jack Baumgartner, Incident Commander for the operation, said. “This time, there were zero reports of theft, assault or robbery.”

Baumgartner said a handful of teens and adults were stopped with items associated with criminal mischief like eggs and air guns and issued warnings. He said there were four arrests that night, including a weapons possession charge for a person arrested with a knife and a marijuana possession charge in a separate incident.