Metro Detroit students participate in "Water Wars"; police say "clean fun if it's not taken too far"
(CBS DETROIT) - It's a war of the cleanest kind.
"Water Wars" have taken to high schools across Metro Detroit, and local police departments are asking both students and community members to be courteous of one another as the school year comes to a close.
"I would say it is really fun, but I've also had about three hours of sleep in the past 48 hours," says Oxford High School senior Caroline Erskine as she wields her garbage can lid, or in this case, shield.
Erskine says Water Wars is an annual game played by sophomores to seniors where teams are selected, a bracket is made and a pot is created with $10 per student being the buy-in.
It's completely made up of students with no affiliation tied to the schools themselves. Multiple high schools in Metro Detroit participate.
"It's really common to carry a water gun with you at all times. I keep one in my car. I have a friend that has two in her car, a bucket of water in her car. We use umbrellas, we use shields, which my team actually didn't think of last year," says Erskine.
The intensity of water wars has even caught the attention of local police departments.
"We've had a couple of minor incidents. We've received a report of a male up against a tree with a gun, and the caller believed he was in his 20s or possibly 30s. So, we responded to that and quickly established it was a water war scenario," says Lt. Rich Millard with the Royal Oak Police Department.
Millard says his department put a precautionary post on its Facebook page asking students to be courteous of driving laws and private property.
Bloomfield Township police made a similar post as well.
"Just be cognizant that not everybody in the community knows of this, and their actions could appear very suspicious. I think its pretty clean fun when it's not taken too far," Millard said.