Medicine Hat Police Service says Hatters were responsible in how they decided to ring in 2023, with an average number of calls for service between Dec. 31 and Jan. 2. - NEWS FILE
Medicine Hat Police Service is pleased to report that the majority of Hatters rang in the New Year safely and responsibly.
While police responded to a number of service calls relating to myriad concerns over the New Year’s weekend, Sgt. Ernie Fischhofer says the volume of calls was in line with what is typically expected.
“Between 8 p.m. on Dec. 31 and 4 a.m. Jan. 2, we had a total of 102 calls for service,” Fischhofer told the News on Monday. “(Which) is kind of average call-wise for the New Year.”
Of the calls specifically related to New Year’s celebrations were three involving impaired driving investigations and two involving disturbances at licensed establishments.
The remainder of the calls related to concerns ranging from weapons offences, to bail violations, welfare checks, assaults, domestic disturbances, thefts, etc.
Intermittent poor weather conditions also resulted in several multi-vehicle collisions over the weekend, including one at the intersection of First Street SE and Division Avenue and one near the ‘Kin Coulee Dip’ portion of the Trans-Canada.
Both collisions led to temporary disruptions to the flow of traffic as emergency crews worked to clear the scenes. But Fischhofer says overall Hatters affected by these and other incidents responded appropriately and, in general, exercised caution throughout the weekend festivities.
“We’d like to wish everybody a Happy New Year and thank them for their due diligence,” said Fischhofer. “It was good to see that most everyone was out for a good time and didn’t get in trouble.”
