Incidents on the Decline at Patriot Place

Editor’s Note: Any data in this article referring to Patriot Place does not include events from Gillette Stadium.

At the midway point of the year, Patriot Place has seen a dramatic drop in incidents for both police and fire.

According to Patriots Place GM Brian Early, police incidents are down from 124 for the first six months of 2012 to 43 in the same time period of this year. The decrease represents a 65.3 percent drop. Fire and EMS calls are also down 13 percent.

The numbers, provided by Patriot Place, do line up with those from Foxboro police and fire according to Selectman Jim DeVellis.

“There’s always going to be issues but I don’t see anyone burying their heads into the sand and hoping for the best,” DeVellis said.

To discourage and prevent drunk driving, Patriot Place has developed a safe ride home program along with Foxboro Cab and Veterans Cab to provide at least three taxis on weekend nights. According to Early, 164 people have used the cabs so far.

“I consider that a huge win in people making the right decision in how they handle the end of their evening,” Early said.

The shopping center is also hoping to bring the Be a Hero campaign over from Gillette Stadium. The program, which rewards adults 21 and older at Patriots and Revolution games with a free non-alcoholic beverage for pledging to be a designated driver, is expected to be used at participating restaurants later this year.

Over at the stadium, the goal is to break the record for people signed up during one football season. The current record is 23,580 people during the 2011 season.

Gillette Stadium has also seen a dramatic drop in incidents during their summer concerts.

Compared to Bruce Springsteen’s 2012 show at Gillette Stadium, police related custodies were down 86% at this summer’s Bon Jovi concert. At the two Taylor Swift shows in July, custodies were down 66% from her 2011 shows.

The big test will be in late August when Country Fest returns. Last year's two shows resulted in over 500 custodies with 100 of those being arrests.

The meeting was a follow up to a discussion in March looking at where Patriot Place stood five years after opening. According to Early, reported police incidents are 25% lower than projected by a town consultant in 2006.