Pain was easy to find in State College the morning of March 24.

It was in the McAllister Street parking deck, where handcuffed students involved in the riot lay on cold concrete as police washed burning pepper spray out of their eyes.

It was in the police booking station where an arrested student head-butted an officer hard enough to break his nose.

It was along Beaver Avenue where a mob rounded a corner and pushed 53-year-old Herb Sharpe, who toppled onto a wooden planter and ripped ligaments in both his knees.

In three hours, the riot had hurt police, businesses, Penn State, locals and students.

This week, a Daily Collegian series will survey the riot damage from a different angle each day.

Without question, the recent disturbance was not the worst riot the town has seen.

The 1998 riot during the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts caused more damage. Students lit piles of furniture on fire, dropped a beer keg from a high balcony and ripped down every street lamp in "Beaver Canyon."

After a year off in 1999, a milder sequel riot returned at the 2000 Arts Festival.

Then, last month, a post-basketball-loss melee prompted police to unload pepper spray on the crowd as they endured a peppering of glass bottles.

The first two riots could have been flukes. The third riot seals a trend.

Now, the riot ritual has started drawing crowds of spectators to Beaver Avenue, most of whom seem more interested in watching the problem than causing it.

This has created a difficult challenge for police, who face a few troublemakers amid a swarm of others who just get in the way.

State College Police Department Lt. Diane Conrad and Sgt. John Wilson spoke about the frustrations the officers experienced that night and are still dealing with today.

During the night of the riot, about 60 to 80 officers were on duty. While the majority of the officers were members of the State College police force, officers from Penn State Police Services, Pennsylvania State Police and officers from surrounding municipalities assisted.

A week before the Penn State men's basketball loss, another crowd formed in "Beaver Canyon." That one had been celebratory. The crowd on March 25, however, was more deviant and aggressive.

"This time, officers reported a lot more things coming off balconies," Wilson said. "I was out the weekend before and they were celebrating. When the police got there, they cheered and followed the rules.

"The next weekend, it was a different atmosphere altogether, and we responded the same both times."

Both weekends, the officers donned their uniforms and protective headgear, yet the crowd's response had completely changed.

At one point during the March 25 riot, Wilson said he and several officers were standing together on Locust Lane when someone threw a full beer bottle at them from a balcony. Hitting one officer in the head, it shattered and sprayed the other officers' face shields with glass shards.

"It shook us up for a second. Imagine what it would have been like without protective headgear," Wilson said.

The constant threat of physical harm lasted throughout the night, but Conrad said officers likely overcame any emotional distress about personal risk and focused instead on controlling the crowd.

"I think that's in the back of their minds, but I think they're so busy thinking about what other things they're supposed to be doing that that sort of takes a back seat," Conrad said.

Instead, officers focus on what they have been trained to do -- respond to and control different sized groups and reach those who are assaulting people or causing damage.

Since purchasing protective equipment after the 1998 riot, the State College Police Department has beefed up its crowd control training. Penn State police officers also train with them.

"Your aim is to get (bystanders) out of there as efficiently as possible so that then you can take care of the ones that need your full attention because of their more criminal behavior," Conrad said.

The majority of the crowd dispersed by 3 a.m. But with officers still deployed at 5 a.m., the riot had turned into an all-night affair.

And more than two weeks later it still hasn't ended.

Last week, police Chief Tom King spent most of his workdays in meetings discussing the riots.

Cpl. Rick Ososkie lost a week out of his schedule ordering replacement equipment.

Other officers have spent time watching more than 15 hours of videotape from the riots, gathering original and additional evidence and documenting where it is on the tape.

Still, another officer pulls pictures off the tapes to place on the department's Web site.

They have also been fielding telephone calls from community members, students and parents.

All of this contributes to the amount of time each officer spends at work, which translates into money.

"These things cost of a lot of money," said Borough Manager Peter Marshall. "We've probably spent between $15,000 and $20,000 just for one night."

Penn State Police Services is also feeling the riot's after effects. They, too, are busy with cleaning and repairing equipment, filling out paperwork, attending court sessions and helping the State College police, said Penn State officer Carrie Gratzmiller.

The State College police has made an effort to include members of the Undergraduate Student Government to discuss riot prevention.

USG Director of Town Affairs Darren Robertson said he and USG President Matt Roan sat in on riot prevention committee meetings.

Students and police have continued to debate about some of the logistics of the riot, such as the order to disperse given on the night of the riot. Students said the order wasn't given clearly enough and they didn't know they had to leave. Police officers said they gave plenty of warning.

"We were scratching our heads as to why people think they have a right to engage in this type of behavior and not obey an official police officer," Conrad said.

"I think we have a different perspective than they do. This is our job. We're professional about it."

At Penn State, the riot only escalated to the use of pepper spray.

In a riot last Monday at the University of Arizona, police used stun grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas to control students who reacted to their basketball team's championship defeat by taking to the streets and burning cars.

Conrad said there's a progressing use of force continuum used by police across the country.

"If our presence and our verbal warnings aren't working then we escalate to the next level and the next level is pepper spray," Conrad said.

Robertson wants police to have a better way to alert students that the order to disperse has been given.

"For our own safety, we have to come up with a clear way to make the order known," Robertson said. He mentioned using some sort of signal, siren or announcement that everyone could agree on and recognize.

"Now we have to seriously come up with solutions. There needs to be a community-wide effort to come up with a solution.

"There needs to be a rebuilding of trust between the police, community members and students."

Conrad agreed.

"We ask people to think about this. This is the only way it's going to change. We don't have the ability to change people's minds. They have to become responsible."

Coming tomorrow: How riots hurt local businesses.