Increased police presence will be seen in Ice District during Oilers playoffs
Edmonton police will join Oilers fans around Rogers Place and the Ice District as the team embarks on its playoff run.
"Our whole plan is to create a safe and fun event for all of the Oilers fans and the citizens of Edmonton," said EPS Staff Sgt. Jay Reinelt.
He said the playoff policing plan will be similar to last year.
"We made some small adjustments along the way to improve things as we went and we'll do the same thing this year if need be."
"You'll be able to expect increased uniform presence during games," Staff Sgt. Reinelt said.
He said how many extra officers will vary from game to game, round to round.
"Game 1, Round 1 is probably our lowest level of resources."
"It's mostly on-duty personnel from other units and areas that are re-deployed to the area. But as the fan base increases in the area and the fan participation increases then so does our police presence," he said.
While the focus will be around the arena, Staff Sgt. Reinelt said they'll also be keeping an eye on Whyte Avenue.
"Just because of its history but in the last few years there haven't been any issues there so it's just been our regular beat officers patrolling that area," he said.
Police also remind people that downtown, near the arena, can be busy even during away games.
"Expect some traffic congestion pre and post game," he said.
"Last year one of our games, even though it was an away game, we had almost 30,000 fans in the area so you can probably expect very similar things this year," he added.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
ANALYSIS Will Donald Trump go to prison? What the precedent says
Now that the jury in Donald Trump's criminal trial has made the historic decision to convict him, the judge overseeing the case will soon face a monumental choice: whether to sentence the 2024 Republican presidential candidate to time behind bars.
The northern lights are returning to night skies across Canada this Friday
If you missed the brilliant displays of the aurora borealis over North America on May 10, you may have another chance to see them on Friday night.
A pair enjoyed pricey meals and bolted when it was time to pay. Their dine and dash ended in jail
A Welsh couple who dined out on pricey meals and bolted when the bill came is now paying the price, behind bars.
Loblaw testing out small-format No Frills grocery stores
Loblaw is testing smaller-format discount stores across the country this year as shoppers increasingly look for ways to save on their grocery bill.
Russian missiles kill 4 in Kharkiv after Biden OKs a Ukrainian response using U.S. weapons
Russian ballistic missiles slammed into an apartment block in Kharkiv and killed at least four people in a night-time attack, Ukrainian officials said Friday, a day after U.S. President Joe Biden gave Kyiv a green light to strike back with American weapons at Russian military assets targeting the country's second-largest city.
Here's what you should know about Donald Trump's conviction in his hush money trial
Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts marks the end of the former president’s historic hush money trial, but the fight over the case is far from over.
Montreal tech billionaire charged with several sex offences
Robert Miller was charged Thursday with several sexual assault charges after Montreal police reopened an investigation into the tech billionaire.
Doomsday plot: Jury convicts Idaho man of killing wife and girlfriend's 2 children
An Idaho man was convicted Thursday of killing his wife and his new girlfriend's two youngest kids in a strange triple murder case that included claims of apocalyptic prophesies, zombie children and illicit affairs.
'Why didn't they stop?' Mom asks of driver in hit-and-run crash that killed son
The mother of a 13-year-old boy who was killed in a hit-and-run in Edmonton is begging the driver to come forward.