Coachella Weekend 1 Arrests Up Since 2019, Drug & Alcohol Busts

Weekend 1 of Coachella 2022 is in the books -- and after a 2-year hiatus, it seems folks were itching to land in some trouble with the law ... turns out, arrests were up!

The Indio Police Dept. just released hard numbers describing the alleged scoundrels they encountered Fri-Sun -- the first time Coachella had happened since 2019 -- and wouldn't you know it ... they slapped handcuffs on quite a few more people than the last time around.

There were a total of 112 arrests this year -- up 13% from the 99 arrests they made during Weekend 1 in 2019 -- and they issued a helluva lot more citations in 2022 as well ... 72 of them, in fact, which is 41% more than what they handed out in 2019 for the same window.

If you're wondering how exactly that data breaks down -- well, IPD has that info for you too ... there were 85 drug/alcohol/intoxication busts this year, 15 false ID arrests, 3 instances of folks allegedly possessing drugs for sale and 9 property crimes for which they hauled someone in.

On the citation front ... 54 slips were written for people cops say used bogus handicap placards, and 18 that were drawn up for attendees actually parking in handicap spots.

Now, the upside ... Indio Police say traffic congestion was kept in check -- thanks to a team effort from neighboring law enforcement agencies and partners -- and there were no major concert-related incidents.

So, all in all ... a pretty successful first weekend in the desert, minus all these other arrests they're mentioning. While they're not ideal, it doesn't seem like there were any crazy assaults or crimes of the like ... seems as though people were mostly getting trashed on their own accord.