The Metropolitan Police Department will be walking the streets of Georgetown in full force with the ghosts and spooks on Halloween.

Several neighborhoods in MPD’s Second District, which includes Georgetown, will be boosting patrols as part of an additional safety precaution that night, MPD Second District Sergeant Lennox Antoine said. Antoine said that the district will employ approximately 150 to 200 additional officers for Wednesday night, tentatively patrolling from 7:00 p.m. to 4 a.m.

“If things get out of control we will be extending hours,” Antoine said.

The influx of officers will be on Halloween night only, but MPD “will be monitoring the whole weekend before,” Antoine added.

The boost, MPD Second District Commander Andrew Solberg said, will allow more officers to control traffic, monitor trick-or-treating and prevent vandalism.

Although no officers will be assigned specifically to breaking up parties where they have received noise complaints, officers were told to be vigilant of rowdy get-togethers on Halloween.

“If there’s a noise disruption, we’ll break it up,” Solberg said.

According to Solberg, the additional officers will be spread throughout the Second District, though no plans have been made as to specific locations and concentrations yet. The increase is part of a D.C.-wide patrol increase that MPD employs regularly for Halloween. Antoine said that he thought such increases have “definitely” been effective.

Antoine said that police officers will exercise discretion when handling offenses for parties.

“I don’t think the first time [in response to a noise violation] we will be arresting people. We are here to educate them,” Antoine said. “It’s an education issue and an enforcement issue. . You give people the benefit of the doubt.”

MPD recently announced that additional foot patrols will be assigned to Georgetown each weekend to break up parties that are particularly noisy. This weekend will mark the beginning of the new program.

“We won’t be out specifically to break up parties [on Halloween],” Solberg said. “We do that every night of the week,” Solberg said.

Ciara McDermott (GRD ’08) said that it’s a good idea to have additional officers on patrol for Halloween, but said that the new regular patrols will only work to further strain the relationship between students and the local community.

“I feel like it’s the school against the community,” she said. “They should just get along.”