Freedom Convoy: What Did it Teach Us About Police Capacity?
Law enforcement personnel are stretched thin. Highly-motivated protesters in more than one location place a tremendous strain on police resources.
Yesterday, I invited you to imagine that your grandchild becomes a history major, and their professor asks them about the historical significance of the 2022 Freedom Convoy. Today, let’s pretend they’re asked a different question:
What did the Freedom Convoy teach us about police capacity?
Should your grandchild be instructed to rely on a single historical document - Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly’s Closing Submission to the Emergencies Act inquiry - the answers will be rather startling.
According to the chief, the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa was “an unprecedented event requiring an unprecedented police response.” That response is described as “the most complicated and largest public order operation in Canadian history.”
We learn that Ottawa police personnel “worked throughout the [first] weekend in minus 35 degree temperatures and were ‘exhausted’ by January 30.” Overall, the police force was “overwhelmed, overworked, and lacked the resources needed to end the demonstration.” We’re told Chief Sloly was never under any illusions. He always knew his force didn’t “have the resources needed to arrest its way out of this situation.”
Big picture, police personnel provincially and nationally were also stretched thin, partly due to recent defund-the-police sentiment. Everyone in the police world apparently understood it was “simply not possible” to end both the Ottawa and Windsor protests simultaneously. Neither local force had the capacity to cope with highly motivated protesters, and reinforcements from elsewhere couldn’t be in two places at once.
From a policing perspective, says Chief Sloly’s document,
establishing a hard perimeter, even around a single bridge, requires immense resources - resources that must be taken out of ordinary police operations - and comes at a tremendous personal and economic cost.
So here’s the key takeaway. And it’s an important one for those of us who think ordinary citizens are powerless against the vast resources of the state. The Ottawa police force has about 1,500 officers. It was only after 2,200 additional police personnel arrived in Ottawa from “across the province and country” that police were in a position to physically dismantle the protest.
This is worth emphasizing: A relatively small group of non-violent but determined protesters is sufficient to place a significant strain on the typical Canadian police force. Soon after anything unusual starts happening, the cops become overwhelmed, overworked, and start calling in reinforcements.
Redeploying 2,200 police to Ottawa was highly disruptive. To the officers involved, to their families, and to their colleagues working overtime back home to pick up the slack. Then there’s the horrendous amount of money involved. For flights, taxis, hotels, meals.
Now let us remember that all of the above might have been avoided if our wholly unimpressive Prime Minister had treated the truckers with the same courtesy he extended to a 16-year-old Swedish climate activist.
Thanks Donna for another great morning message to educate this old man with with another important point that helps to put me a good mood to start my day. - that important fact in that last paragraph about J.T.’s response to a 16 year old protester who today is now 20 years old and still acts less intelligently than my 12 year old Granddaughter (referring to Rebel News walk along with Rebel Team and Greta at Davos a couple days back)!!! One other important point- these overwhelmed police apparently became so exhausted trying to contain and keep Ottawa safe (even our Justice Minster was terrified and left Ottawa for his own safety) - while combatting all these amazing Truckers and so many loving supporters who all had their hands invisibly tied behind their backs with our public marching orders to keep it peaceful “!! This 78 year old retired trucker’s jaw is still hanging with the shock of watching all the violent, criminal police brutality that our government utilized against these protesting citizens and EACH And EVERY ONE TOOK THE ABUSE WITH ZERO VIOLENCE OF RESISTANCE as they attempted to defend freedom and democracy for this and many future generations or democracy!! As a Canadian who is still overwhelmed with the immense gratitude that a have for all our veterans who fought and suffered so much for the freedom of so many generations including my grandchildren up to 2020 - I pray that those three weeks without so much as a punch thrown never mind a shoot fired - will also help to keeping future Canadian generations to grow up in a free and fair Canada!!!!
It is definitely worth noting that our police would not be able to control any sustained large scale protest (that's why the government chose to close bank accounts). But it also alarming to think that an outside hostile force could cripple our country quite quickly.