After planning for hundreds of trucks to roll into the City of Regina on Thursday, the Regina Police Service is saying things ran smoothly when around 700 trucks entered the city for an anti-carbon tax rally.
Thanks to planning ahead, the Regina Police Service was able to staff the event without having to add any extra officers to the normal day. However, one extra dispatcher was added to handle calls related to the convoy.
Officers from other municipalities helped with the convoy coming into the city. For RPS, 25 members helped out with traffic at 15 intersections in the city, providing direction as well as turnaround sports for anyone looking to avoid the convoy.
"We certainly acknowledge that there were traffic delays with north and south traffic, but again, we did our best starting last week to tell people that that was what was going to happen, and giving them some alternatives... I would hope that most people recognized it was inconvenient for a short duration and then carried on,” Regina Police Service’s Elizabeth Popowich said.
There were three calls for an ambulance and two calls for a police officer during the convoy. Popowich says traffic was easy to navigate thought, thanks to the operational plan being made early on.
