An eleventh-hour meeting between the executive producer of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival and police has brought about some happy results after a frosty relationship developed over the weekend.
Terry Wickham met with senior management of the Edmonton Police Service on Tuesday morning because he was frustrated with a new stance for 2018 that he was hearing about in his first go-around with officers.
He told Global News prior to the meeting that they were insisting the folk festival have eight members on site, far more than in the past and a huge expense.
“It took me a while to get their attention and I had some good support from community people that kind of said to the police, ‘What are you doing?’ I found that it took a while, but they’re much more sensitive to us now. I’m pleased they were able to respond that way.”
Eight uniformed officers will still be on site this weekend, however, Wickham was assured they would be more outward looking, than patrolling the hill at Gallagher Park.
“I’m not going to tell the police how to do their job. All I can say is they’re much more sensitive to my concerns in that I didn’t want it to look like a big police state, you know? And it’s not. They’re sensitive to it.
“It’s not about policing our audience,” he said. “They’re not going to be looking for people smoking pot or anything like that. It’s a question of, if an incident happened — long shot as it is — like Commonwealth Stadium, they need the ability to react, and I get that. So I’m fine.”
As for the cost, Folk Fest — like all Edmonton festivals — has seen increased policing costs since a new format was brought in in 2016 by the EPS.
Prior to 2016, the rate for each constable was $96 per hour. Prior to that, it had not been increased for a number of years. In 2016, it was increased to $122 per hour.
According to an email from the EPS, ever since then, the rate has increased by three per cent per year to “reflect the approximate costs of salary increases as negotiated by the Edmonton Police Association.”
Wickham said it won’t be that hefty for them this year.
“They’re using us as kind of a guinea pig with a command centre, because we had that evacuation last year. As a test case, the city is paying the police bill. We pay the traffic outside the grounds, for the safety of our audience. Although the city did come up with a 50-50 sharing plan for that, plus the eight officers the city will be paying for.”
As a ballpark estimate, Wickham pegs this year’s bill from the city at $30,000.
The Edmonton Folk Music Festival runs Thursday through Sunday.
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