Policing the unsanctioned street party during Queen’s University Homecoming this past October cost $64,000.
That’s according to Insp. Helene Corcoran with Kingston police, detailing a range of costs, tickets issued and arrests at this afternoon’s police service board meeting.
The $64,000 price tag is down substantially from last year.
Kingston Police Chief Antje McNeely says some of that comes down to scheduling adjustments for officers, which reduced overtime costs.
They’re all part of the lessons learned from the previous year’s street party, McNeely says.
In her report to the board, Corcoran also revealed police issued 128 tickets for for Liquor Licence Act violations — an increase of 40 tickets over last year.
Twenty-one individuals were arrested, an increase of seven from the previous year.
Corcoran told the board the majority of the arrests were for intoxication in a public place.
Nine bylaw tickets were also issued, eight of them from the municipality’s new nuisance bylaw.
The nuisance bylaw also meant everyone ticketed had to make a court appearance.
Those court appearances occurred this week at the Provincial Offences Court on Montreal Street over two days.
Some of those court appearances included individuals ticketed earlier in the year at other events like frosh week and move-in day.
According to Corcoran, 138 people pleaded guility, and a further 34 people have been scheduled for trial in absentia.
Corcoran, responding to questions from board member Dr. Christian Leuprecht, also revealed a little more information about the two days of court proceedings.
“The Crown Attorney was pushing very hard for increased fees and increased fines, I guess, and we didn’t really see those,” Corcoran explained.
McNeely says about 150 police officers were assigned to dealing with this year’s street party