Amherstburg Town Council has approved spending $20,000 to step up security when the Admirals hockey team play on home ice following reports of harrassment and vandalism.
All but one councillor voted in favour of the spend during Monday's council meeting.
A report on the agenda says a group or groups of youth have been causing problems at the Libro Centre during the games since the last leg of the 2021 season.
That problem is apparently getting worse and worse through time.
Harassment of staff and patrons as well as vandalism of town facilities being perpetrated by a group, or groups, of youth, the report theorizes.
The money asked would be used to hire security and a uniformed Windsor police officer to attend — in hopes of preventing the problems.
Aldo DiCarlo, the town’s mayor, theorizes these incidents are more based on the opportunities presented by the crowds, as opposed to being linked at all to the team itself.
“If you’re looking to disrupt as many people as possible or to challenge a great number of people then your odds are better in a well-attended recreation facility,” he says.
He says things have been so bad at times, staff and residents have voiced concerns about getting to their vehicles at night.
The report cites “TikToc challenges” as an apparent driver of the increasingly bad behaviour.
DiCarlo says he doesn’t know anything about that, but that the youth involved “are becoming more and more aggressive and confrontational.”
He says having police on hand at past games has had a positive impact.
“So we’re in a position now to address this and to do so is going to cost a few bucks,” he says.
Neither DiCarlo nor Windsor police were able to provide specifics around what incidents have occurred at the games — primarily because of the age of those believed to be involved.
However, Const. Bianca Jackson with the police service says having uniformed officers onsite for hockey games, concerts any type of event drawing large numbers is not unheard of.
She says those “off duty” shifts see officers essentially pick up extra hours to provide a police presence — meaning it wouldn’t require a constable to come off patrol to monitor the game.
Const. Jackson says individual constables can be hired through the Windsor Police Service for almost any event for under $100 an hour.
There are often officers at Windsor Spitfire games, for example.
“Any other big event in the city, at any location,” she says.
Amherstburg Admirals owner and president Matt Fox tells CTV News the team takes the safety of fans “very seriously.”
However, while the incidents may be happening on the same property at the same time, they’re not happening on the ice, so handling them is the town’s responsibility.
The first two home games of the season saw additional security on-site, which DiCarlo says yielded promising signs of prevention.
Now the town needs to find a way to secure further funding to keep that increased security around.
If approved, the funding will see a Windsor police officer and security guard at the Libro Centre from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on game days.
The Admirals have 18 more home games scheduled this year.
- With files from CTV Windsor's Rich Garton
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