Vancouver cop offers Halifax riot advice
Posted Apr 20, 2012 10:19 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Vancouver’s chief of police has some advice for Halifax on how to avoid a riot in advance of tonight’s Q-League semi-final match between the Mooseheads and the Rimouski Oceanic.
Chief Constable Jim Chu said there were a few lessons the Vancouver Police Department learned when riots broke out after the Vancouver Canucks lost in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup series in June 2011.
“One of the big lessons is that if you have a large crowd of people, 150,000 people, who have had the opportunity to drink for a long period of time, that’s a recipe for a riot to break out,” said Chu.
He said city streets have capacity levels, just like stadiums, bars and movie theatres have capacity, and that his officers should have stopped the sky trains from bringing more people downtown.
Excitement for Friday and Saturday night’s games in Halifax is palpable as the herd has not reached a semi-final series in a few years. Tickets sold out in just under two hours Thursday.
Chu said public intoxication is a big part of what can contribute to a riot.
“As long as you keep a lid on the people who are drinking the twenty-sixers in the parking lot, I think that will help prevent something happening,” said Chu.
Chu was the keynote speaker at the Canadian Museum of Immigration’s breakfast fundraiser at Pier 21.
He also spoke about the necessity for police department across Canada to recruit immigrants as the country’s immigrant population grows.
