Organizers are working with the RCMP to make sure a plan is in place to deal with any trouble that might arise when the Canada Winter Games are held in Prince George, city council heard on Monday night.
Canada Winter Games CEO Stuart Ballantyne said the host committee is "engaged fully" with both the Prince George and North District detachments and are seeking input from RCMP headquarters in Ottawa.
The Games' scale could mean outside help will be brought in, according to Ballantyne.
"If it's going to be a northern games, we may have to rely on some other northern communities to assist us," Ballantyne said when answering questions from council members. "But there is also a lot of private security and really good security plans that can go into place to try to defer it."
Police had to deal with one major incident during the Canada Summer Games in Sherbrooke, Quebec, this past August when an armed 62-year-old man barricaded himself in a house across the street from part of the athlete's village drawing a half-dozen police cars and vans to the scene.
About 50 participants were evacuated and three baseball games were rescheduled but after about four hours, police had talked the man out of the building and took him to hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
Authorities stressed that at no time were the athletes in danger, but Ballantyne indicated Monday the incident created plenty of concern for athletes' parents and brought home the need to make sure good lines of communication are in place.
"Whether it's through social media or through regular media channels, to let people know that the safety of their children when they're in our care is of utmost importance," Ballantyne said.
If William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, take up the city on an invitation to visit during the Games, their newborn son Prince George in tow, the plan would "change dramatically," Mayor Shari Green noted.
