Police out in full force for the long weekend
Officials aim to head off trouble with extra Mounties in for Victoria Day
A contingent of RCMP officers from the Lower Mainland and Squamish will join thousands of visitors heading up the Sea to Sky Highway this weekend.
Those Mounties will be lending a hand as Whistler braces for what has become its busiest weekend of the year.
And if past Victoria Day weekends are any indication, about 20 of the visiting throng can expect to spend a night in the Whistler RCMP lock-up.
“It’s always been a somewhat challenging time for us, policing-wise,” said Whistler Staff Sgt. Steve LeClair.
“We have a lot of young people that come up from the Lower Main- land to kick off the summer, and there is some associated violence that has occurred historically.”
This will be LeClair’s ninth May in Whistler, and he said the weekend has surpassed New Year’s Eve for policing issues.
“Last year, for instance, we had 169 calls for service — that’s pretty standard,” he said “The 2014 May long weekend was our busiest: We had 200 calls.
“Last year we had 20 people in custody for a variety of offences. That’s kind of an average,” he said. In 2014, they held 38 prisoners.
More troubling last year were two separate stabbing incidents at the resort, one involving a fatality in a case that is still before the courts, with an adult and three youths charged in the death of 18-year-old Burnaby resident Luka Gordic.
The other stabbing led to an aggravated assault charge,
“Of course we had a terrible event last year,” Whistler Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden said of that fatal stabbing.
In 2013, the resort launched the GO Fest to generate a more family-skewed atmosphere on the May long weekend, she said. “It’s an ongoing work in progress.”
The GO (for Great Outdoors) Fest includes outdoor sports workshops, nightly concerts, films and other activities.
“We’re really getting the message out that if you’re wanting to come up to Whistler and misbehave, don’t bother coming.”
Wilhelm-Morden said she expects more than 28,000 visitors per day over the weekend.
The long weekend follows the end of classes for many college and university students, and adding to the weekend’s draw is that visitors can participate in summer activities such as mountain biking and water sports, while still being able to get up to Blackcomb for skiing.
Tourism Whistler said the pace of hotel bookings was up seven per cent heading into the weekend. In response, the RCMP is augmenting its usual weekend complement, LeClair said.
“We double-shift on Friday and Saturday nights anyway,” he said. “So on a typical Friday or Saturday night we have two corporals and eight to 10 constables working.”
LeClair wouldn’t say how many out-of-town Mounties would be added to that number for the long weekend, but noted that all officers would be working extended shifts.
Police bike patrols will be used to combat a trend police have noted in past years — young men getting together in secluded spots at the village’s perimeter for consensual fights. One of those fights last year ended in the stabbing that resulted in the aggravated assault charge.
“There’s a certain faction that comes up that’s problematic, and that faction is who we will target and deal with this weekend,” said LeClair, adding the weekend typically has a family skew until the late evenings. “It does seem to switch later on. When the sun goes down, that 18-to-25 demographic comes out.”
Wilhelm-Morden said she will also be enjoying the weekend.
“On Friday night, I want to see (musician) Dan Mangan, he’s playing in the village,” the mayor said, adding that during the day, “I probably will be pulling out my paddle board, depending on the weather.”
We’re really getting the message out that if you’re wanting to come up to Whistler and misbehave, don’t bother coming.