Law enforcement to step up efforts during weekend show

Every township officer will work during the weekend.
& lt;a href=mailto:jgoodwin@vindy.com & gt;By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR & lt;/a & gt;.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- The cars will bring out the cops.
Soon the antique and muscle cars, as in past years, will be cruising down main streets in the township in honor of the annual Hot Rod Super Nationals show at the Canfield Fairgrounds.
Local law enforcement, as in years past, also will be out in full force.
The hot rod show will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Many spectators and participants head to the U.S. Route 224 area in the evening to watch the cars cruise and socialize. The show has been taking place since 1987.
With all of the cruising, traffic on the western half of Route 224 usually grinds to a standstill, leaving those conducting other business stuck in the midst of roaring motors and cheering spectators. Police have not mapped out an alternate route for those less enthused about performance cars, but they encourage those individuals to use Western Reserve and Shields roads rather than Route 224.
Patrols
Boardman police Lt. Don Lamping said every township police officer will be working on crowd control during the three-day event -- in many cases on overtime. He said there will also be additional state highway patrol units and as many deputy sheriffs as can be spared on patrol.
Lamping said there will be 90 to 100 officers patrolling township streets at any given time during the holiday weekend.
Police will be looking for large crowds of people, disorderly conduct, alcohol violations and general reckless behavior. Lamping said police have not had many problems with the large crowds in the past several years because people have "gotten the idea" that police will ticket and make arrests for unsavory activities.
During the first year of the event, township police made more than 170 criminal and traffic arrests.
"Our primary goal is to keep people safe, so there will be a zero tolerance policy for those activities," he said. "We just want people to go home safe at the end of this."
Shutting down
On Friday and Saturday, activities will end at midnight, when officers shut down the cruising and disperse the crowds. Sunday activities will be shut down at 11 p.m.
Lamping said when officers shut down the cruising, no traffic will be permitted on Route 224 between Glenwood and West Boulevard. He said it should take about an hour before officers reopen the street to through traffic.
Lamping could not say how much the officers' overtime will cost the township. Those figures will be calculated after the event. Last year's overtime and expenses during the hot rod weekend came to $27,727.
The township recoups little of those expenses with charges such as permit fees for vendors looking to sell goods to bystanders along Route 224. Each permit is $75. To date, the zoning department has issued nine permits, but zoning inspector Darren Crivelli expects to issue a few more. Last year, 15 vendor permits were issued.
& lt;a href=mailto:jgoodwin@vindy.com & gt;jgoodwin@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;