As the Waterloo Regional Police Service continued its presence in the university area of Waterloo on Tuesday, much of the conversation around town focused on what happened over the weekend – specifically, what was observed from above.
Thousands of students filled Marshall Street for the annual unsanctioned St. Patrick’s Day street party, which typically sees a significant police response. Similar to previous years, metal barriers were set up along Ezra Avenue and Marshall Street to help manage the crowd. This year, the City of Waterloo chose not to pursue a Superior Court injunction, stating it didn’t effectively prevent last year’s gathering.
Instead, city officials decided to rely on updated nuisance bylaws while also designating this as a community safety event.
However, none of these actions captured as much attention as the sight of a police sniper watching over the street party did.
Images circulated widely on social media, prompting numerous inquiries directed at law enforcement.
Police Chief Mark Crowell appeared on The Mike Farwell Show to address any misunderstandings and respond to questions raised by concerned citizens.
“Really, this is a commonplace tactic that is deployed across Canada, across Ontario and throughout the world for large gatherings,” he said. “Very unfortunately, we have learned through the tragedies, you can think of many examples that have occurred of mass casualty events, vehicles into crowds, shootings that have occurred from high places and then other explosive devices into large crowds. These are the considerations that our operational teams learn from, and we incorporate that planning into our deployments,” he went on to say.
Crowell also mentioned this wasn’t an isolated incident regarding tactical officer deployment.
“I think it’s really important to relay that this is something that occurs quite frequently. It has occurred in our region before; it will occur in the future.”
The chief explained more about what tactical officers do during such events.
“That tactical positioning is meant primarily for information gathering and information transfer. Should the worst occur where there is some kind of casualty incident or threat to a crowd that is gathered, then they are well positioned to make tactical decisions,” He added, “We really want people to understand that this is a protective capacity.”
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Residents react
While the unsanctioned street party strains both police and municipal resources, most local residents aren’t directly affected. The disruption mainly impacts students living in nearby housing within the university district who are accustomed to such occurrences. Teegan is one such student residing close by. She expressed her understanding regarding necessary safety precautions. “They have closed my street down, which is a little frustrating for the people that live on it, but I do suppose it does make the students a little bit safer in the area.” Yet when discussing sniper deployment specifically, Teegan had mixed feelings. “Honestly, that’s a little terrifying for me; I didn’t like that all.” But she acknowledged their intent behind such measures. “They are trying to keep people safe and trying to stop parties in general because it is a big ruckus in the area.” Matthew questioned whether police took an appropriate approach during this situation. “It was kind of nuts to see. But I’m pretty sure Waterloo put out a statement that it was like police. So I guess you know trying to keep people safe but I don’t know if that was the best way to go about it.” Keep it Factual Add City News Kitchener as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.Source link
