Edmonton Police Watch

EDMONTON JOURNAL

For Edmonton and the country, the story of the Stanley Cup playoffs became how police handled the city’s hockey fans — or its hooligans.

“It’s never usually a win-win for us,” says police Insp. Darren Eastcott.

“We had to be able to maintain the peace and order on the avenue, and that meant significant arrests. I don’t think I will ever apologize for that, nor should the police.”

At the time, police would not say how long people were kept in custody, how old people arrested were, or why individuals were arrested.

Through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, The Journal requested copies of the mass arrest field reports filled out by police officers during the last three Saturday nights of the 2006 playoff run.

Nearly 600 documents obtained cover the arrests of all the people who were taken into custody for hours, but never criminally charged. They show reasons for arrests, where people came from, and whether they received medical attention.

Aside from providing clear statistics, the arrest records — released in April — allow a quickly scrawled, sometimes barely legible look at what arresting officers were thinking.

For example, on June 17, a 21-year-old man was yelling: “Shirts off for Horcoff!” at women on Whyte Avenue near 107th Street. According to an arrest form, officers warned him he could be arrested, and he yelled, “I was only arrested for yelling, ‘Shirts off for Horcoff!’ ”

The arresting officer noted, “I believed (this was a) deliberate attempt to inflame group. No force used other than escort hold.”

On May 27, 2006, the night the Oilers beat the Ducks and Whyte Avenue almost saw a riot, just 23 people were arrested, four charged. Two weeks later, a major change of policy led to 198 arrests after the Oilers beat the Hurricanes in Game 3 of the final round. Just seven were charged.

The ratio widened on June 17 when 386 people were taken into custody and police laid charges against two.

“You really had quite a swing in tactics halfway through,” says Keith Spencer, a retired University of Alberta criminologist.

“I think it earned (incoming police Chief Mike Boyd) kind of a no-nonsense reputation.”

Last year, Insp. Bryan Boulanger ordered police to stay back on May 27, arguing that officers going into the crowd could have increased the chances of a full-blown riot. Later that week, he was released from commander duties and replaced by Insp. Chris Caughell, then head of the police service’s riot squad.

A gag order barring Boulanger from discussing those decisions remains in place today.

Caughell, now working in the Alberta Solicitor General’s Department, declined comment.

Joel Johnston, British Columbia’s use of force co-ordinator and founder of the Vancouver police’s crowd control unit, says managing massive groups of people — who often are drunk or on drugs — is always difficult.

But because of retirement levels in most police departments, many officers are only two or three years older than the hockey fans they’re being asked to control.

“It would be hard for anybody, no matter how well-trained, to deal with that kind of crowd. … You worry about your own safety and your ability to control that kind of a situation,” he says.

“Police are people first and foremost. They’re people who wear a uniform and have specialized training, (but) most of these officers are young and inexperienced.”

Before this year’s late-season losing streak sealed Edmonton’s fate as a noncontender for the 2007 Stanley Cup, Eastcott was tapped to plan how police might handle another round.

“We wouldn’t have started (this year) where we ended up (last year),” he says. He adds lessons were learned. “I don’t think we underestimated the number of people. I guess we were disappointed in the handful of people who created the number of issues we had to deal with last year that were riotous in nature,” he says.

“Our last resort is to have to arrest people. … It was disappointing that we would have to do that, but it’s understandable why we did.”

If police had to handle the same issues again, Eastcott says they would send clear messages to the community about maintaining a safe environment.

But the details — how many officers might line the avenue, for example — remain confidential because similar plans are used for other major events like Canada Day.

“Wewon’t tip our hat on our strategies, we’re not going to talk about our numbers …,” he says.

“As an Oiler fan, I’m very disappointed (the team didn’t make the playoffs). But I wasn’t disappointed we didn’t have to deal with it again this year.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 3rd, 2007 at 10:34 am and is filed under News.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.