In early September, I did a posting about how a Victoria BC councillor was handing out lollipops to bar patrons in an effort to calm their spirited nightlife.
I took this idea to Guelph’s Nightlife Taskforce who eagerly embraced the idea.
The Downtown Guelph Business Association offered to pay for lollipops and Guelph Police Services agreed to hand them out on the Saturday night prior to Halloween.
The following is a summary of the promotion from the perspective of Guelph Police Services. ian
We did handout the lollipops on Halloween and we had a great response from the patrons. It was an excellent opportunity to break down barriers with party goers, and a great conversation piece. We actually had officers also head into the licensed establishments and pass out the lollipops.It is difficult to quantify any impact – overall that Saturday night likely had anywhere from 5,000 to 8,000 people frequent the downtown and we had relatively minor issues which are always anticipated.
We also used the lollipops at the Downtown RIDE program. I thought it went well and was well received, we had patrons thanking us. I plan to use the lollipop idea again for St. Patrick’s Day as I do believe it is a low cost initiative for the special occasions and provides the officers a mechanism to break the ice. GPS