Last year, the State College Police Department beefed up its manpower for St. Patrick's Day, effectively lessening the typically high list of alcohol-related crimes.

But this year is different.

This year, St. Patrick's Day is on a Friday.

State College police Sgt. Mark Argiro said that normally, St. Patrick's Day is a busy one for the State College police, but because this year's holiday falls on the cusp of a weekend, police are expecting more action than usual.

"There won't be much tolerance for drunken, unruly behavior," Argiro warned. He said patrolling will be steady throughout the day and night, with officers specifically assigned to the waiting lines outside of bars.

"We have too many complaints afterwards from business owners," Argiro said. He said the sidewalks where students cluster outside of bars have been littered with beer cans in the past.

Last year, alcohol-related arrests sank on St. Patrick's Day when compared to years past -- a possible indicator that the increase of police officers helped to stifle any pending chaos.

The State College Police Department reported responding to 66 calls last year, with about 70 percent of the incidents being alcohol related -- five public drunkenness charges, three for driving under the influence, three assaults and three underage drinking citations.

Officers will be out on foot, in cars and on bikes -- weather permitting, Argiro said.

Penn State University Police Assistant Supervisor Tyrone Parham said Penn State police are typically less busy than the State College police, and because they don't anticipate any major incidents, St. Patrick's Day will be business as usual as far as staffing is concerned.

However, Parham said the officers on duty will have a heightened awareness because of the holiday.

"We anticipate more alcohol-related incidents than we would on normal weekends," Parham said.