Halloween is expected to be filled with more treats than tricks, according to local law enforcement authorities, but Town of Elon Police Chief Cliff Parker had some advice to offer students in light of recent events: Avoid creepy clown costumes.

“While it’s not illegal for somebody to dress that way … it could cause issues,” he said.

Elon isn’t the only community having to give extra thought to clowns this October.

In response to the recent international creepy clown phenomena, Target made the decision to remove adult clown masks from their stores and website. Children’s clown costumes, oversized adult clown suits, clown wigs and “sexy” clown dresses are still available for purchase.

Several towns in the United States are spreading warnings similar to Parker’s. Last week, county officials in Kemper County, Mississippi, passed a temporary ban on clown costumes. Any individual caught wearing a clown costume publicly in the county between Oct. 17 and Nov. 1 can be fined up to $150.

Organizers of the Belmont Boo Festival, an annual event in Belmont, North Carolina, also made the decision to ban adult clown costumes from their carnival.

Elon Campus Safety and Police Detective Joel Thomas expects that clowns will make an appearance or two.

“I would say there’s going to be an increase of clown costumes, not just on campus, but throughout everywhere just because it is Halloween,” he said. “Clowns and Halloween kind of go together anyway.”

Assistant Police Chief James Perry promised the police would respond to any reports of suspicious individuals, including anyone in a clown costume.

“By dressing that way, you’re drawing unnecessary attention to yourself. We’re going to have to check you out,” he said.

Elon Campus Safety and Police will also respond to any reports of clown activity as they would any other safety concern.

“Ever since the whole clown thing has been going on, we take that very seriously,” said Thomas. “The safety of everybody is our main priority.”

Despite this year’s clown conversation, local authorities seemed, for the most part, unconcerned about the safety of Elon University students on Halloween.

“Halloween, for us, it’s usually not that busy,” Parker said. “We don’t anticipate any issues.”

Neither Parker nor Perry have observed significant increases in incidents of crime and vandalism during Halloween, so they aren’t particularly worried about the clown sightings around the world.

“Every now and then —and we’ve already got a couple of them — there are some mailboxes that are damaged by pumpkins … so there may be a small increase, but there’s definitely [not much],” Perry said.

Thomas reported a similar story.

“As far as crimes and things of that nature, it’s just another weekend for us,” he said.

Thomas said he does not expect that this year will be any different.

Regardless, the Town of Elon Police Department is prepared to address any concerns that may arise.

“We’ve discussed, as we will leading into any … holiday period or celebration time, if we need to increase patrols or anything, and we take that under advisement,” Parker said. “As we get closer, we’ll look at that as a possibility if we feel that having additional patrol personnel out during that time is necessary, but we haven’t made any specific plans to anticipate any problems.”

Campus Safety and Police will be patrolling campus as usual.

“You’ll see us in the cars. You’ll see us out on foot,” Thomas said. “You may see bicycle patrol here and there.”

Thomas reminds students to be responsible, no matter what costume they choose to wear this weekend. He hopes students will remember to take precautions, such as walking in groups late at night rather than alone, and use the LiveSafe app to stay in touch with campus police.

Parker also advised students to, “stick to traditional costumes.”

“Be a superhero,” he said. “Wear a cape.”