Police were on-site from noon until 1 a.m. each day during Stampede.--NEWS PHOTO KENDALL KING
kking@medicinehatnews.com
Despite a flurry of activity this past week as the return of Medicine Hat’s Stampede coincided with the Heritage Day long weekend, Medicine Hat police are reporting no serious occurrences in the city.
“The fact that we didn’t have any significant incidents, we’re very pleased,” Brian Bohrn, acting staff sergeant with the Medicine Hat Police Service, told the News on Tuesday while reviewing notes from officers posted at Stampede.
“The stuff police ended up dealing with at the Stampede grounds were – in the grand scope of things – minor, kind of regular incidents we would expect to deal with,” said Bohrn.
“We had about seven fights, or similar types of disputes on the grounds, none of which resulted in any charges,” he said. “There were two minor collisions which happened in the parking lot (resulting in no major injuries). We had four people we had to remove from the premises for behaviour-related complaints. And approximately eight files involving lost or found property.”
Bohrn said the most frequent report police responded to throughout Stampede was that of a missing child – with 15 children reported missing, all of whom were located and returned to their families “within a very short period of time.”
Bohrn says locating and reuniting children with their families was made easier thanks to Kid Find, a collaborative program between MHPS and Medicine Hat Safe Community Association. The program, operating out of a booth at Stampede, compiles a database of children attending the event by registering each child’s name, parent/guardian contact info and a photo of what they’re wearing that day.
“It’s a program which helps to link kids if they happen to get separated from family,” said Bohrn. “Over the full four days, (Kid Find) registered 947 kids.”
As well, Bohrn said police at Stampede dealt with a handful of driving complaints and other minor issues, but overall nothing atypical.
Reflecting on the long weekend, Bohrn said police faced a few minor challenges, the most notable being a string of vandalisms involving bus shelters along College Drive, Primrose Drive and Dunmore Road.
“At approximately 11:30 p.m. on July 31, police were called to a bus shelter the glass had been smashed out of on College Drive,” said Bohrn. “While the officer was responding, he noticed two more shelters which had been damaged along College Drive and Upland Drive. Other officers patrolled the area, and that’s when we found (damaged bus shelters) on 13th Avenue, Trans-Canada Way, Dunmore Road and Southridge Drive near Gehring Road.
“The total was 10 bus shelters. Estimated damage, at this time, is approximately $25,000. We are still investigating leads on who might be responsible.”
Police ask anyone with information about the vandalism to contact them at 403-529-8481, online or on the MHPS app.
