The final Sundance Film Festival in Park City saw multiple protests and an increased number of calls to law enforcement.
Local and state law enforcement spent a year planning safety guidelines for the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
The Park City Police Department works with federal and local agencies to make sure there are no blind spots in security. Captain Rob McKinney said there are about 120 special event officers that assist with the festival every year.
“We have 39 full time sworn officers here at Park City,” he said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour" Jan. 30. “But with that staffing alone, we wouldn't be able to sufficiently staff these large scale special events, especially ones that last 10 days.”
He said the state Department of Public Safety, Utah Highway Patrol and the Summit County Sheriff’s office all step in to help with large-scale events.
Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter said Sundance in Old Town is special because Main Street is closed to vehicles.
“Main Street is important to us, in the sense that we want a walkable, engaging community,” he said.
Carpenter said the Main Street closure also allowed residents to safely protest during the festival.
“[The protests] have been well attended, some of them larger than others, and that was important because it gave people the opportunity to express their First Amendment [rights], and it went really well,” he said. “And the environment here, where we have the barricades on both ends of the street, creates a safe place where they can do that.”
One protest involved about 200 people speaking in response to border patrol agents fatally shooting Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti just days after another Twin Cities area resident, Renee Good, was shot and killed.
Over the course of the festival the department noticed an increase in calls, but McKinney said that’s expected when more people are in town.
“We had several DUI arrests throughout the festival and and then throughout the day we had our minor, petty thefts. We had some scam calls going out. We've seen an uptick in that lately.”
He said the scams included people pretending to be a representative from the sheriff’s office or police department. The caller would claim you missed a court appearance, jury duty or there’s a warrant out for your arrest and that you need to pay them.
“If you're ever asked to pay anything over the phone, don't do it. Hang up,” he said. “Call the sheriff's office, call the police department and verify yourself that there's something going on.”
He said red flags for a scam call also include the caller requesting gift cards or Venmo payments.
