Niagara police had to deploy its public order unit to a beach resort near Port Colborne over the long weekend after a crowd of nearly 30,000 people overwhelmed its local authorities.
The department says it has been called out to Sherkston Shores and the surrounding community 30 times since last Thursday.
“Those calls for service included possible armed persons (gun and bear spray), unwanted persons, fights, assaults, domestic violence, a sexual assault, and reports of drug poisoning,” police say.
The sheer number of calls placed what police are calling a “heavy burden” on their officers assigned to the Port Colborne/Wainfleet detatchment, and by Monday the department pulled additional resources from its surrounding stations and deployed its public order unit to the area.
Sherkston Shores Resort was under seige yesterday.
Youths running Riot across the park, assaults, drugs and violence.
Many residents being intimidated.@NiagRegPolice had many officers sent there, leaving many areas of Port Colborne and Fort Erie short
(Not my video) pic.twitter.com/cQdOb2o95G— Nigel Hay (@LakeErieVlogger) July 2, 2024
On Tuesday, Const. Phil Gavin told CHCH News that when dealing with an incident of this size, officers are “forced to prioritize complaints for the reason of protecting public safety” and that lower-priority incidents can sometimes be put on hold until the more significant problems are resolved.
Police have not announced any charges as of Tuesday but say there are multiple ongoing investigations that its officers are continuing to look into.
“We expect we will receive further complaints of possible criminal activity in the days to come,” Gavin said.
The force added that it plans to work with the community and resort to prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future.
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