Increased police presence will be seen in Ice District during Oilers playoffs

The Edmonton Oilers will host fans at Ice District Plaza during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. (Supplied)

Edmonton police will join Oilers fans around Rogers Place and the Ice District as the team embarks on its playoff run.

"Our whole plan is to create a safe and fun event for all of the Oilers fans and the citizens of Edmonton," said EPS Staff Sgt. Jay Reinelt.

He said the playoff policing plan will be similar to last year.

"We made some small adjustments along the way to improve things as we went and we'll do the same thing this year if need be."

"You'll be able to expect increased uniform presence during games," Staff Sgt. Reinelt said.

He said how many extra officers will vary from game to game, round to round.

"Game 1, Round 1 is probably our lowest level of resources."

"It's mostly on-duty personnel from other units and areas that are re-deployed to the area. But as the fan base increases in the area and the fan participation increases then so does our police presence," he said.

While the focus will be around the arena, Staff Sgt. Reinelt said they'll also be keeping an eye on Whyte Avenue.

"Just because of its history but in the last few years there haven't been any issues there so it's just been our regular beat officers patrolling that area," he said.

Police also remind people that downtown, near the arena, can be busy even during away games.

"Expect some traffic congestion pre and post game," he said.

"Last year one of our games, even though it was an away game, we had almost 30,000 fans in the area so you can probably expect very similar things this year," he added.