Crime reports relatively low this year at state fair

Cascade County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Boyd and Great Falls Police Officer Rick Brinka spent the majority of their Friday night Montana State Fair shift walking the grounds at a casual pace, observing, greeting and stopping to talk with fairgoers.

But, toward the end of the night dispatch called in a fight near one of the gates, so the law enforcement duo quickened their pace to cut through the carnival.

The incident was reported as fairly large, a stark shift from the rest of the evening.

“It’s been very calm,” said Lt. Bob Rosipal of the sheriff’s office. “People have just been out to enjoy the fair. It’s been great.”

Boyd, Brinka and a third officer, Deputy Brian Bebbington, quickly approached the gate with Rosipal following behind. There were few people left to explain what happened. Reports at the scene indicated tension among a group of juveniles started before they arrived at the fair, and escalated at the gate.

Boyd spoke with a juvenile male who said an adult got physical with him during the incident. He said it was the father of another boy involved.

Bebbington took the statement of a third juvenile male witness and the private security officer posted at the gate. There were no apparent significant injuries, just an angry dad who arrived on scene to find out his son had reportedly been attacked by an adult.

The man questioned whether his son should have been speaking to a deputy without him present. Rosipal quickly stepped in to de-escalate the situation, allowing Boyd to finish hearing the teen’s account of the incident.

The officers made notes for their reports and brought official statement forms back to the fair command trailer, where six other officers sat at nearby outdoor tables, watching fairgoers file by on the way to the parking lot. Food vendors closed up shop and carnival rides slowed to a halt during the fight call. It was now past midnight on the second to last night of the fair.

Right before the fight call, Boyd, Binka and two other deputies were handling reports of a missing child, and then a call to intercept a child that was found. But, despite their quick pace, another team of deputies and a police officers made it to the call first, so the group was diverted to handle the fight.

That fight was one of only a handful the deputies and officers handled during fair week.

“It’s been very slow compared to past years,” Rosipal noted.

Brinka recalled breaking up an incident the previous night. He said a woman was attacking the guy she came to the fair with because she bought food and he ate all of it.

“‘He ate both of my hamburgers!’’’ Brinka quoted the woman. “I think she said she spent $16 on the food and she didn’t get any of it.”

A few minors were busted with alcohol or under its influence after some of the night shows. The call logs showed four minor in possession complaints handled on Wednesday night after the Dierks Bentley concert.

The lack of crime at the fair this year allowed the deputies and officers to focus heavily on the community component of fair week. Boyd and Brinka walked endless laps, crisscrossing the fairgrounds and greeting strangers, acquaintances and friends. Kids requested high fives, fist bumps and even selfies from the officers, who obliged with a smile and friendly words.

Rosipal classified that fair as a chance for law enforcement to interact with citizens during a large-scale, fun event and show they care while promoting safety and good behavior. This year, for the most part, fairgoers obliged.

Yet, the laps around the ExpoPark were more than just glad-handing and greetings, though. Boyd and Brinka had their eyes open for people with active warrants. People they knew from many interactions with law enforcement.

“I think I have the felony warrants list memorized,” Boyd said.

They stopped a man at one point and asked for some information. He fit the description of someone on the list, but it wasn’t him. The logs showed law enforcement arrested at least one person with warrant over the course of the week.

Boyd and Brinka took a few descriptions of individuals involved with possible thefts from vendors. A private security guard passed on that one vendor stopped a man from stealing goods from his booth, but the man got away.

The officers log countless steps during their fair shifts, which are tacked on to the schedule in addition to regular patrol shifts. The CCSO budgets for the overtime accrued during fair week, and the GFPD provides officers who signed up for overtime shifts, too.

The group of deputies, police officers and one dispatcher dedicated to the fairgrounds gathered in the (well air-conditioned) command trailer at the start of the night. They greeted one another as they filed in, the good-natured barbs typically heard among law enforcement officers flying.

It’s tiring and often hot work, at the fair.

“What’s up?” someone asked Brinka as he arrived for his evening shift.

“Just drinking water, trying not to melt,” he answered, gesturing to his police vest.

Laps in the hot sun in a blue or black uniform shirt and protective vest are part of the gig. Boyd and Brinka made stops in the trailer for water and a minute of cool air. The oppressive heat subsided for all fairgoers and employees when the sun finally began to set.

Call the lack of action or even the q-word (“quiet” is a word thought to spur action and ruin a shift in the law enforcement community) a chance to spend more time connecting with citizens, displaying the peaceful side of policing the fair.

Andrea Fisher-Nitschke is the Crime and Breaking News reporter at the Great Falls Tribune. Reach her at 791-6527 or anitschke@greatfallstribune.com. Follow her on Twitter @GFTrib_Andrea or like Andrea Fisher-Nitschke Great Falls Tribune on Facebook.