Don’t be surprised if you see a police officer at a minor hockey game.

The Winnipeg Police Service and Hockey Winnipeg have formed a new partnership to create a program called Checking In.

Officers will sporadically attend kids’ hockey games around the city in an effort to curb violence in the sport.

Hockey Winnipeg president Monte Miller said having cops in arenas will help the organization with “discipline issues in the rinks and some of the infractions we’ve seen over the last couple of years.”

“You have to be on the lookout and launch initiatives like this just to bring some respect back into the game,” Miller said.

People living in smaller communities may be used to seeing local Mounties attend games and police already patrol large sporting events, but Miller said this initiative is new for Hockey Winnipeg.

“It’s not one of those things where these folks are going to be in there looking for trouble,” Miller said.

“They’re just going to be in there sort of saying, 'Hi.'  Back to the good old days as one of the officers said, where the town policeman would stop by the rink and have a cup of coffee and say, 'Hi,' and visit with the kids.”

Winnipeg Police Service Const. Brad Sparrow came up with the idea. He said it ties in with Hockey Winnipeg’s Respect In Sport program, which requires parents to take a course before their child is allowed to play.

Sparrow said their presence in arenas is not meant to intimidate, but to educate.

“Generally people are happy to see the police and I think we want to continue, that it’s just to show that we are there to support and encourage just the respect in sport and the behavior in the arenas,” Sparrow said.

Hockey dad Mike Dohla enrolled his seven-year-old son, Alex, in hockey for the first time this season. He said having officers in arenas will help control tempers.

“It would be alright to stop the crazy parents from over-reacting to calls (by a referee) that they don’t like.  Just a presence there is nice in case things do get out-of-hand,” he said.

While officials will still be responsible for keeping the peace on the ice, referee Derek Munroe said a police presence will be a good backup for officials in case tempers flare off the ice.

“It’s pretty sad that you need a police presence at the games these days, especially minor hockey from eight years old, but I mean, that’s what it’s come to,” Munroe said.

You can expect to see officers in arenas starting Saturday, Oct. 25.