Police gear up for busy weekend with Mac revellers, festival-goers
Hamilton police are bracing for a busy weekend, with their presence expected at events spanning Westdale to Binbrook.
With McMaster Homecoming, Supercrawl, the Binbrook Fair and a Hamilton Tiger-Cats game among the celebrations, Deputy Chief Dan Kinsella said police will be out in full force.
“We’ve had a lot of busy weekends in the past,” he said. “I can’t recall one where it’s been quite this many events in one weekend but ... we’re prepared for that.”
Kinsella pointed to “ongoing issues” in Hess Village and a Westdale prowler sneaking into unlocked homes, trespassing in backyards and peering in windows, as other priorities for the weekend.
The bulk of this weekend’s events will be attended by paid-duty officers as well as those from the community mobilization division, which includes ACTION and mounted patrol, he noted.
Because of homecoming, police will be “highly visible” in the west end, starting Saturday morning, he said. Officers will be out in the streets, talking to people and knocking on doors, he added.
“We want everybody to have a good time and enjoy themselves ... but we want them to celebrate with courtesy, appropriately, in line with the law,” said Kinsella, pointing to potential issues around drinking or urinating in public and noise complaints.
He’s asking for help from the community when it comes to reporting what’s happening in their neighbourhoods if police aren’t there.
That goes for homecoming celebrations, if crowds are forming on local streets and lawns, but also for the Westdale prowler and Supercrawl, which has grown in geographic footprint and attendance over the years.
“We can’t be everywhere,” Kinsella said. “We need people to call us if they see something that’s going on because that’s the way we work together to try to ensure community safety. ”