By Eraina Hooyer
Staff Reporter
During the seven days of the Ponoka Stampede members of the RCMP arrested and lodged about 150 people in their cells. The number is 50 up from last year’s number of 100 and police worked diligently to remove trouble from the grounds.
Cpl. Jim Lank of the Ponoka RCMP says that in previous years they have been very busy responding to many different calls with complaints ranging from small to large but says that nothing major or serious happened in town or at the grounds during the Ponoka Stampede.
“A lot of this year’s complaints were about people being intoxicated in a public place,” said Lank. “It was kind of just a mix of everything but nothing significant.”
Lank says the most serious thing they found was an unloaded modified .22 calibre rifle cut down to the size of a handgun on one of the males they arrested.
Several road and vehicle checks were also done which resulted in a variety of charges.
The Ponoka RCMP along with the Ponoka Freeway Patrol, Wetaskiwin Traffic Services, Hobbema Community Response Unit and the Provincial Sheriffs from Red Deer worked 24/7 to keep the grounds and town safe and peaceful.
The beefed up RCMP presence at this year’s Ponoka Stampede was able to help deter possible major disturbances.
“There was a concern expressed by the community about gang activities that occurred last year,” said Lank. “We addressed that and ensured that we had the resources to deal with that concern.”
This included working with the Hobbema Community Response Unit (CRU) which worked to find members of gangs and suppress gang related activity.
“They were very effective in identifying known gang members,” said Lank. “We did not have the gang problems that we did last year and that is due to the CRU and the large RCMP presence.”
Overall Lank was impressed with the results of the stampede and was pleased with how much the RCMP were involved with during the seven days.
“I am very pleased with how the stampede went,” said Lank. “We did a lot of red serge duties such as marching in the parade, our equestrian riders and our role on Canada Day.”
RCMP are currently working on a more detailed report of the arrests and other happenings during course of the Ponoka Stampede.