LANSING, Mich. — On Friday evening, downtown Lansing will be filled with thousands of people coming to enjoy Silver Bells, and with such a large crowd, Lansing police say their goal is to keep things as safe and fun as possible.
“Lansing Police know that this day is kind of all hands on deck day,” said Lansing Police Chief Ellery Sosebee.
Sosebee said between 25 and 30 officers will be on site closely monitoring the event.
“We have to make sure we are able to handle the influx of people that are in our downtown area,” he said.
Each year, Between 50,000 and 100,000, people come out to Silver Bells to enjoy the parade and the lighting of the state Christmas tree, but hours before the crowd shows up, Sosebee said, Lansing police are hard at work.
“We start out the day early in the morning with our sweeps,” Sosebee said. “We clear the streets and we do our K-9 sweeps.”
Officers will be easy to identify and Sosebee said, if you have an issue or just want to say happy holidays, feel free to approach one.
“The important thing is to stay calm,” he said. “We have plans in place for evacuation for weather and violence incidents and so forth, so we have everything in place, we just need to know about it.”
Sosebee said, if you can’t get close to an officer, you can always call the Lansing police department at (517) 483-4660.
