Who was ultimately responsible, the chief or the mayor?
andyt @ Wed Jun 22, 2011 10:09 am
Unsound Unsound:
I'd have thought they might have talked to Edmonton police about how things were handled here in '06. After a bit of trouble early in the play-off run the cops here did a remarkable job of keeping things in hand.
I was on Whyte Ave for a lot of the games, includin game 7 and it was incredible the difference from the beginning of the run to the end. I think the biggest thing was a massive visible police presence and some strictly enforced rules.
If you were on the street you had to keep moving. Standing on one spot milling around would have cops asking you to move along. A bit annoying if you were just stepping out of the bar for a smoke but understandable. The bars quickly figured out to open the back door for patrons to smoke in the alley. Which was fine.
They also kept the street clear. If you stepped off the sidewalk you got one chance to get of the street.
Some people thought they were a bit heavy handed but the fact is most people were able to have a great time watching the games and things never got out of hand.
I was on Whyte Ave for a lot of the games, includin game 7 and it was incredible the difference from the beginning of the run to the end. I think the biggest thing was a massive visible police presence and some strictly enforced rules.
If you were on the street you had to keep moving. Standing on one spot milling around would have cops asking you to move along. A bit annoying if you were just stepping out of the bar for a smoke but understandable. The bars quickly figured out to open the back door for patrons to smoke in the alley. Which was fine.
They also kept the street clear. If you stepped off the sidewalk you got one chance to get of the street.
Some people thought they were a bit heavy handed but the fact is most people were able to have a great time watching the games and things never got out of hand.
That wouldn't have worked here, since they closed the streets and invited people to come watch on the big TV. But the rent a cops were overwhelmed by the crush of people trying to get in and that allowed people to carry in lots of booze and overcrowd the area. Poor planning there. And as the article makes clear, even the cops had a bad feeling as progressively each game got more tense and the idiots more drunk.
Unsound @ Wed Jun 22, 2011 10:20 am
andyt andyt:
Unsound Unsound:
I'd have thought they might have talked to Edmonton police about how things were handled here in '06. After a bit of trouble early in the play-off run the cops here did a remarkable job of keeping things in hand.
I was on Whyte Ave for a lot of the games, includin game 7 and it was incredible the difference from the beginning of the run to the end. I think the biggest thing was a massive visible police presence and some strictly enforced rules.
If you were on the street you had to keep moving. Standing on one spot milling around would have cops asking you to move along. A bit annoying if you were just stepping out of the bar for a smoke but understandable. The bars quickly figured out to open the back door for patrons to smoke in the alley. Which was fine.
They also kept the street clear. If you stepped off the sidewalk you got one chance to get of the street.
Some people thought they were a bit heavy handed but the fact is most people were able to have a great time watching the games and things never got out of hand.
I was on Whyte Ave for a lot of the games, includin game 7 and it was incredible the difference from the beginning of the run to the end. I think the biggest thing was a massive visible police presence and some strictly enforced rules.
If you were on the street you had to keep moving. Standing on one spot milling around would have cops asking you to move along. A bit annoying if you were just stepping out of the bar for a smoke but understandable. The bars quickly figured out to open the back door for patrons to smoke in the alley. Which was fine.
They also kept the street clear. If you stepped off the sidewalk you got one chance to get of the street.
Some people thought they were a bit heavy handed but the fact is most people were able to have a great time watching the games and things never got out of hand.
That wouldn't have worked here, since they closed the streets and invited people to come watch on the big TV. But the rent a cops were overwhelmed by the crush of people trying to get in and that allowed people to carry in lots of booze and overcrowd the area. Poor planning there. And as the article makes clear, even the cops had a bad feeling as progressively each game got more tense and the idiots more drunk.
It's true that the circumstances were a bit different, but I still wonder that they didn't talk to people who had fairly recent experence with a similiar situation.
I wonder if they even thought to talk to european police depts? I remember being in Denmark for part of the World Cup one year. They did the same as Vancouver with giant screens set up in downtown Copenhagen. 100, 000 people iirc, no problems.
andyt @ Wed Jun 22, 2011 10:29 am
That's the problem. They were asleep at the switch, lulled into serenity by the Olympics. They didn't want to believe there could be a problem. Yet they assured the public they were ready for anything, that the lessons of 94 had been learned and all was well.
Unsound @ Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:37 am
yeah, it sure seems like there was a serious lack of foresight somewhere at the top. Almost everyone I know was predicting a riot. Lately riots in canadian hockey cities seem to be more the norm than the exception. I just don't understand how they seemed to be caught off-guard. I hope that this inquiry turns up some real answers and that other cities will learn from this. Especially since I'm predicting another Oilers appearance in the final within the next 5 years. And probably a really good run within the next 3.
andyt @ Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:44 am
We had people walking around with T-shirts that read "I'm going to the riot." A hot dog guy told me he had lots of young guys come up to him saying they planned to riot. We were all holding our breath, hoping for the best but aware of what could happen. I don't understand how the police command and city officials could have been in that much denial. Politics about money would be my guess.