Published: July 17, 2008 11:32 pm            

CITY OF TONAWANDA: On patrol during Canal Fest

While most people walking around Canal Fest are checking out which tasty treats to try while doing some people watching, Lt. Robert Clontz has his eyes trained on the more subtle things.

He’s looking for people who may be carrying a concealed weapon and watching the movement of the crowd, keeping an eye out for a surge of people possibly heading toward the scene of a fight.

“A lot of it’s just being observant,” Clontz said while patrolling Canal Fest Wednesday night. “You’re looking for things your typical citizen doesn’t notice. It could be a drug deal going on right in front of you, or a concealed weapon.”

He’s also dealing with unruly offenders who try to assault him, which happened early Wednesday morning. Mixed in with all of that, Clontz is advising young people on how to become a police officer and telling festival-goers they can’t loiter on the Long Homestead Bridge, which often prompts the responses, ‘What’s loitering?’ or ‘I’m not littering.’

It’s basically all in an evening’s work for this City of Tonawanda officer, a 19-year veteran of patrolling one of the region’s major festivals. “If I know I’m making it a better environment down here, making it more safe, I feel better,” he said.

To be sure, Canal Fest, now in its 26th year, does offer plenty of fun things for families to do. There are carnival games and rides, plus the opportunity to visit community groups’ booths and see what services they provide.

But for all the good Canal Fest has, it does have its dark side, one that has City of Tonawanda officials miffed, because the majority of the trouble caused during the eight-day event happens on their side.

The reason? “The younger crowd attraction is over here,” Clontz said, noting that the carnival rides and games are all on the Tonawanda side.

As Clontz said this, he observed several groups of kids gathered in the center of the midway, just standing around, a possible indicator that they’re at the event not to spend money but to cause trouble.

“At night, the crowd changes,” Clontz said. “It’s a lot of groups. That just changes the whole environment down here. You’ve got to decipher the movement. I know it sounds weird, but that’s what you’ve got to do. Is it just a family walking, or is it a group going to fight?”

Unlike the two previous nights, Wednesday was a relatively calm one, although police did make a dozen arrests. Still, the majority of them were not for disorderly conduct or resisting arrest.

Clontz’s shift began at 4 p.m. and, within minutes, he and the other officers on patrol — two bicycle cops and several full-time and auxiliary officers on foot patrol — were dispatched to the area near Walgreens, where a fight had broken out. The group was asked to stay away from the Canal Fest area for the night, but 45 minutes later two members of the fracas were spotted back at Walgreens, and Clontz arrested them for trespassing.

“I try to be firm with people,” Clontz said. “If they give me lip, I throw them out for the day. You come down here and start fights, you’re gone for the week, because we don’t need any of that. It’s a family event.”

While being observant is important, sometimes just the officers’ presence does the trick. Several times, Clontz headed in the direction of groups that had gathered. Each time, as soon as he approached, the groups dispersed. “If they see you watch them, they’ll kind of back out of the situation,” he said. “It happens with these groups of kids. They’re all eyeballing each other, looking to square off fights. They’re all watching, but so are we.”

Another frequent activity at Canal Fest is drug use. Shortly before 9:30 p.m., Clontz headed toward the Delaware Street Bridge, a hot spot for drugs and underage drinking. Sure enough, Clontz arrested a 17-year-old from North Tonawanda for unlawful possession of marijuana.

The teen was with several 15-year-olds. When Clontz asked what they were doing under the bridge, the 17-year-old said they were getting a drink. Confused, Clontz asked, “From the canal?” The teen said they bought a beverage to have there, but no such drink was around. While patting the teen down, Clontz found a ceramic pipe and some marijuana on the teen.

About an hour later, Clontz issued a summons to an 18-year-old drinking beer down near the canal, wrapping up his evening at Canal Fest before moving in to his regular midnight shift. “We didn’t have any fights,” he said. “That was a good thing. We didn’t have anyone getting out of hand. This really wasn’t too bad of a night.”

Standing near the food tents, Clontz was asked if it’s tough making dozens of trips through the food area each day without getting some fried dough or perhaps a beef empanada.

“I’m usually so focused on what I’m doing that I don’t really think about that,” he said. “Afterwards, I get a little hungry, though.”

Contact reporter David J. Hill at 693-1000, ext. 115.

        

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