Bread and Honey Festival seeing less crime

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Peel Regional Police say Streetsville's 38th annual Bread and Honey Festival was a "well-behaved" event.
But, officers still laid nearly 20 charges over the duration of the weekend.
Six criminal charges, including assaulting police, breach of probation and impaired driving, were laid, while 11 Division officers also charged three people with drug-related offences over the course of Friday and Saturday night.
Ten charges were laid under the Liquor Licence Act including public intoxication, drinking in a public place and underage drinking.
These numbers are way down from years past, when the festival was marred with drinking and violence in the evening hours. Back in 2004, police seized two guns, two stolen cars and laid dozens of charges relating to drugs and mischief.
Both festival organizers and police agree that problems arise from the hordes of youths who show up in the evening and loiter about the carnival grounds.
But, crime has been much less rampant at the Bread and Honey Festival over the past few years. Peel Police attribute the drop to new enforcement initiatives such as a beefed up police presence and a RIDE program that monitors drivers coming in and out of the Queen St. strip.
"From a police perspective, this year's and last year's festival has been a fairly routine and quiet event," said Staff Sgt. Paul Beatty, officer-in-charge of the 11 Division Neighbourhood Policing Unit. "People were well behaved and just having a good time for the most part."
Beatty said 26 officers were on regular patrol at the festival Friday and Saturday nights, in addition to officers from units such as Street Crime, Gang and Traffic Services.
"It's a large contingent of officers," he said.
lrosella@mississauga.net

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