It was April 4, 1988. Kansas University’s men’s basketball team had just won the National Championship. And Lawrence Police Chief Ron Olin said things were a mess.

“It was an emotional outpouring,” Olin recalled.

As people climbed light poles, fell out of trees and caused damage, there weren’t enough resources to control the crowd, the chief said.

“People : were permanently injured as a result of that celebration,” said Olin, who became chief of the department just five months earlier.

After the wild party, Olin immediately started planning for the next championship win. Two decades later, his work paid off.

Of the estimated 40,000 people who celebrated KU’s 2008 National Championship win in downtown Lawrence on April 7, only three were arrested.

“We tried to put together a celebrating environment, in which we constructively engaged people to party, but not to do bad things,” Olin said.

More than 200 officers from eight law enforcement agencies policed the area. Despite patrolling for unruly drivers and asking fans on the street to throw away bottles and cans, the officers were a part of the party. They chatted with fans, gave them high-fives and tended to drunken falls.

A few nights earlier, after KU’s April 5 semifinal win against North Carolina, the 200 officers on Massachusetts Street became something of a lucky charm, said Capt. Dek Kruger, Kansas Highway Patrol troop commander.

“Somebody started a rumor that it’s good luck to pat cops on the butt,” he said. “My backside was a little bit tender from all of the slaps I was taking.”

It was this type of camaraderie and flexibility that Olin outlined in a 20-plus page operation plan ahead of the celebration.

“I really have to take my hat off to your chief,” said Kruger, who is based in Olathe. “If that crowd had turned on us and things had blown up in our faces … that would’ve been bad news for him.”

Olin’s plan included contingencies, in case the mass of fans took a turn for the worse. But the chief said he had faith in Jayhawk fans.

“We trust the community and they responded accordingly,” Olin said. “We thank the citizens for working with us.”

After a debriefing with participating agencies Tuesday, the focus now turns to planning for the next championship win.

“It’s going to be a more elaborate plan in the future, but it’ll be a good one and we’re ready,” Olin said.