IMPD official: Final Four weekend a success 

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — As the Final Four festivities come to a close, security officials are calling the weekend a success. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Homeland Security Deputy Chief Mike Bates said there were less than a dozen arrests downtown all weekend, most of them alcohol-related. 

Security officials will meet next week to discuss what went well and what they can improve on.

Badger fan Josh Tilley says they got the job done.

“State troopers, local police, all the security they had,” Tilley said. “Really I had no issues whatsoever going into the different events.”

Tilley is one of tens of thousands who shuffled into the March Madness Music Fest. So many attended that organizers eventually stopped letting people in both Saturday and Sunday.

Bates says he expected the venue to reach capacity.

“It can hold a fair amount of people but when you add the tents and the stage and everything else, that reduces the number of people that can go in there,” he said.

In response to the Saturday crowds for Rhianna, security workers widened one of the entrances to make it easier for people to enter and exit the park. They also temporarily shut down the Ferris wheel on Friday due to high winds.

After the fest, Bates and his team focused on Monday night security for the championship game. He said the goal was to let people have fun, but also to keep them safe and make sure they obey the law.

“You’ll see a large contingency of police officers and public safety people in the downtown area, even away from the stadium,” he said Monday afternoon.