Regional Police say enough is enough, student street parties must stop
Posted Oct 5, 2017 07:42:54 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It appears Regional Police have reached their tipping point.
Chief of Police Bryan Larkin says the massive street parties on Ezra Avenue must come to an end.
This comes after Police estimate crowds of up to 12,000 people swarmed Ezra Avenue in Waterloo as part of Saturday’s homecoming celebrations.
“It doesn’t concern me that young people want to have fun, but they have to realize that they are impacting the lives of others, the taking over of a public street which has become somewhat of a rite, quite frankly has to stop, we cannot continue down this road.” Said Larkin.
The reason? According to Larkin the cost of policing and risk to public safety has grown too high.
Chief Larkin says the do not release the number of additional officers brought in for the day, but says the number of overtime hours is around 350.
Larkin says in addition to cost, it affects policing across the region,
“They place significant impact on public safety resources, they place a significant impact on the police service, they (police) get reassigned from other duties so it does impact policing across the region.”
The other main issue is public safety.
Larkin says the crowds have become so large and so dense that officers and paramedics have trouble getting through to people.
The region’s paramedics say they transported 40 people to the hospital between Friday night and Sunday morning from the university area alone.
Despite extra staff, the influx of calls put the region in a code red situation when zero ambulances are available for a combined 45 minutes.
There were three or less ambulances free for a combined six and a half hours.
Chief Larkin says it is not clear how they will prevent the students from gathering.
He adds that will come as a result from continued talks with community partners Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Waterloo and the City of Waterloo.
