20 arrests during Oktoberfest, lowest ever, police say

WATERLOO REGION — Waterloo Regional Police are praising their efforts for the lowest number of arrests on record at the recent Oktoberfest festivities.

Police say despite larger crowds at local festhalls, the numbers of arrests was down by a “significant” margin, Insp. Tom Berczi wrote in a report.

The Oktoberfest Policing Unit report will be presented at the Waterloo Regional Police Services Board meeting on Wednesday.

The total number of arrests was 20 for the 10-day festival. Seven were criminal offences while the remainder were provincial offences related to alcohol and trespassing.

Most of the arrests occurred at the Concordia Club and Bingemans.

Police also said that the number of arrests that led police to hold people in the lock-up in Kitchener decreased from previous years. Five of the 20 people arrested were taken to jail cells. The criminal charges included mischief, uttering threats, break and enter, assault, assaulting police and one drug charge.

There were a total of 14 liquorrelated offences and 11 trespass violations.

Police said public nuisance and liquor-related charges were at record low.

The three opening ceremonies and the Thanksgiving Parade did not have any incidents needing police attention.

Police credit the service’s Oktoberfest Policing Unit, which has an outdoor crime prevention and proactive enforcement team, for “minimizing parking lotrelated offences and disturbances to the point where, in 2017, these issues have been virtually eradicated,” Berczi said in his report.

Police also credit the festhalls for working with police and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.