Fair keeps local cops hopping

PALMER — So far, it’s been a pretty run-of-the-mill fair for the Palmer Police Department.

And by run-of-the-mill, police mean they’re running around like crazy.

“The guys are doing OK,” said Palmer Police Commander Tom Remaley. They’re behind on their paperwork, but that’s to be expected. “Every time somebody tries to sit down to do a police report they get called to some other activity that takes three people.”

He said that as of Monday, four days into the fair, his officers had written 48 police reports.

“There’s probably three, four times that many calls,” he said.

At fair time, officers aren’t allowed time off. The number of patrols are increased to get more boots on the ground. Without fail, this is the busiest time of the year for the department. The population of Palmer swells with an influx of people from around the state.

In years past there have been a few major incidents — gunfire here, a brawl there. Not to jinx it, but Remaley said that so far this year hasn’t seen any of that. It’s all been mostly thefts, low-level assaults and underage drinking.

A quick glance at Palmer Police press releases from this week bears that out.

Before the fair even opened, on Aug. 23, Police responded to two thefts.

On the first day of the fair Thursday they investigated another theft, arrested Sidney Hill — who is now something of a YouTube celebrity — for disorderly conduct, charged two kids with underage drinking and another fairgoer with being a felon in possession of a weapon.

Friday a vehicle stolen from the fairgrounds was later found torched in Wasilla and police investigated a theft from another vehicle parked there.

Saturday, police charged an Eagle River teen with possessing marijuana at the fair.

On Sunday they helped track down two missing 12-year-old girls.

Remaley said the department is getting help, at least on the roads, from the Alaska State Troopers’ Bureau of Highway Patrol. In years past, troopers have sent in their helicopter to keep an eye on traffic and speeders. He hasn’t seen the chopper yet this year but that doesn’t mean he won’t.

A quick perusal of the troopers’ press releases shows a steady stream of traffic cases originating at the fair. Thursday saw their first drunken driving case. On Friday they got a motorist for driving on a revoked license and marijuana possession. They got their second and third drunken driving arrests on Saturday.

Remaley said that, in addition to things happening actually on the fairgrounds, police also see an up-tick in calls for service in the rest of the city.

The two are obviously related, but it’s hard to sort out which cases have a fair nexus and which don’t, especially in the case of things like burglaries and vandalism, where police are often chasing a suspect.

“You have no idea how that occurred until you catch up to them,” Remaley said.

And while the city tends to settle down after the fair closes its gates, sometimes it doesn’t.

“I saw a shift synopsis that said, ‘It’s 1:30, things have finally calmed down a little bit,’ but it depends on the day,” Remaley said, referencing reports from the weekend.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.