SPRINGFIELD — The Clark County Fair begins on Friday and deputies are talking about the increased security that will be there to keep people safe this year.
Clark County Sheriff’s Detective Brian Melchi is in charge is security at the fair. He said security at this year’s fair will be around “a fourth, maybe even a third higher” than last year.
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“We honestly want people to walk down the midway and, you know, every few steps, they see somebody in uniform,” Melchi said.
As reported on News Center 7 at 5:30, fair officials said there’s been a renewed focus on security over the last few years.
“In our group planning meetings [we] decided that safety was going to be our really paramount number one issue and that we wanted to focus on that. We want to spend our money on that,” Dean Blair, Clark County Fairground Executive Director, said.
There will be more LED lighting around the grounds this year, in addition to the return of a fair sponsor providing a network of security cameras that deputies can access. They will also be using drones to help with surveillance of the fairgrounds.
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After seeing some increases in attendance, Melchi said the more people they have, the more deputies they need on-site to keep everyone safe.
“We haven’t had any intelligence that there’s going to be any issues at the fair. You know, we don’t want people to hear stories and think, ‘Oh, we don’t want to come to the fair because there might be problems,’” Melchi said. “We want everybody to come out and have a good time.”
The security increases are a proactive posture Sharon Waddle appreciates. Waddle’s granddaughter will be showing sheep at the fair this year.
“It’s really good that there is that presence here on the fairgrounds,” she said.
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