As Godzilla gets ready for a final rampage through the Royal City this weekend, officers from the New Westminster Police Department will be back on set directing traffic and keeping everyone safe.
Officers from the local detachment are often asked to work on sets, especially when road closures are required, as they were during the Godzilla filming last weekend. There were about 11 officers from the New Westminster department on set each day to manage public safety and traffic control, according to Scott Harper, film coordinator for the city.
In the old days what used to happen was traffic stoppages and road closures were done by flagging people and production assistants from the production company, and what was happening was there was obviously things done that werent really the right way to do it and traffic was held longer than it should have been, he said.
Today, police officers are a common sight on movie or TV sets and theyre responsible for a variety of things.
Theyre there for safety and for traffic control, and for a point person to the public, he said.
In addition to helping with public safety and traffic control, officers also liaise with the public during shooting, Harper said.
People might have questions or concerns and its better that they address an officer in these cases than a person representative of the film, he added.
In New Westminster, police presence is mandatory during filming that involves weapons or explosions to ensure people in the surrounding areas know its a movie, not a real crime.
Anytime theres ever any guns visible or audible, theyre there. Typically if a scene in New Westminster involves a car moving or gun fire or audible gunfire or explosions or visible guns or weapons, then police need to be there, he said.
There have been cases in Vancouver where police were not present during a shoot with guns and residents in the area called police to report gunfire, Harper added.
Police need to be there in the event that someone doesnt see someone running down the road and think that its an actual robbery happening, he said.
According to Harper, all officers working on a TV or movie set in the Royal City are off duty and are paid overtime wages by the production companies, not the city.
A lot of people think that the police are out there on their dollar when, in fact, its their day off and their coming in on the film companys dollar, he said. Its a revenue generator for the municipality.
Officers can be spotted this weekend (June 15 and 16) on Front Street, directing traffic and providing public safety aid, while production wraps up filming of the Godzilla remake in the city.
