Winnipeg police message on counter-protests tying up resources could put chill on some: prof

Winnipeg police say a rise in the number of counter-protests is forcing other people in need of their services to wait while officers are tied up at the sometimes tense events — a message one expert finds plausible, while another says it could deter some from exercising their democratic rights to protest.

"My real concern with those claims is … they're trying to put a chill on people who are in support of social, cultural, political rights of certain groups," said Kevin Walby, a criminology professor at the University of Winnipeg.

Winnipeg Police Service Insp. Dave Dalal said during a news conference on Thursday that there have been 235 "strikes, protests, rallies, counter-protests" that required a police presence this year alone.

That includes several pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian rallies and counter-protests this month amid war overseas.

The WPS business plan for 2022-23 says they monitored 278 special events in that fiscal year, including mass demonstrations. Officers attended fewer than half of those events, or 115.

Dalal said counter-protests require a much larger police presence as they "create harmful situations and amplify emotions."

He also suggested counter-protests present a "concerning trend that is impacting public safety," beyond what he called mischief or violent clashes between rival groups at events happening at the same locations. 

"This is a substantial draw on police resources — it really does take us away from responding to calls for service from citizens in need," Dalal said during the news conference, which was focused on a rise in reported hate-motivated crimes in the city.

"Those who are calling for help must wait for available police resources while we stand by and monitor these large [counter-protest] events."

Dalal urged counter-protest organizers to plan events at different locations or on separate days from the rallies or protests they're opposing.

He also encouraged organizers to limit protests and counter-protests to a specified location, saying they become harder for police to monitor if they become mobile.

Police 'got it backwards': prof

But Walby says police have "kind of got it backwards here."

"We don't work for the police, and people who want to voice their concerns about things going on in the world are not beholden to police," he said.

"They're allowed to express themselves as long as it's within the boundaries of the Charter and other kind of parameters for social expression in our society."

Walby also took issue with the assertion that devoting police resources to counter-protests impacts overall public safety in Winnipeg.

That comment fits into a broader "formulaic" way police forces make public statements about crime and safety in advance of budget cycles to make a case for more funding, he said.

"You have police saying they need more money, they need more resources, but if you actually look at what scientists are saying about those claims, they're saying they're wrong," said Walby, pointing to a recent study that found "no consistent associations" between police funding and crime rates in 20 Canadian municipalities between 2010 and 2021. 

'This is costing you significant amounts of money'

Christian Leuprecht, a security expert and member of the police board in Kingston, Ont., said monitoring protests and counter-protests isn't necessarily something police forces can appropriately budget for in advance.

But they nonetheless require a police presence in some cases, he said.

"The [police] chief has a legal obligation to deliver adequate and effective policing, and that means making sure that things don't get out of hand — whether it's violence against property or it's violence amongst groups," said Leuprecht, a professor at Royal Military College and Queens University.

"This is a non-discretionary element on which he has to deliver.… People just see police deployed, but this is costing you significant amounts of money."

Leuprecht said as is the case with attending mental health calls and other non-traditional police work, monitoring protests and counter-protests is "extremely resource intensive" and police "probably didn't budget for 235 protests."

"I don't want to sound like I'm defending … Winnipeg police or something like that — I'm just trying to provide sort of some balance [to] of what's, I think, behind the public messaging," he said.

"It's kind of like, 'Something's gonna give, and the easy thing to give is … just protest on alternate days.'"

CBC News asked the Winnipeg Police Service for a response to Walby's criticisms, and to provide data on the frequency of large-scale public gatherings that require police presence, including protests. They were unable to provide that data before publication.