FACE TO FACE: Did VPD do its job well during the Stanley Cup riot in Vancouver?
Igrew up in Brandon, Manitoba, where the seven-month winter was often cold enough to freeze one's tonsils - or, at least, the tip of one's tongue to a metal railing (as I can personally attest).
This explains why every time I ventured outdoors, my mother would invariably tell me to put on an extra sweater. When I would complain, she'd answer: "It's better to be safe than sorry."
Too bad mom didn't pick up a phone the day before Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals to deliver the same advice to Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and Police Chief Jim Chu.
Instead, one or both of them decided to leave the downtown core vulnerable to drunkards, hooligans, anarchists and idiots, ignoring not only many of the key recommendations from the inquiry into the 1994 Stanley Cup riot but, also, common sense.
The result was a monumental black eye to the reputation of the city - and, by extension, to that of the entire Metro Vancouver area, of which the Tri-Cities is a part. The mayor and the chief didn't play it safe and now we're all paying the price.
It hardly matters whether their decision was the result of naivety, stupidity or miserliness; the simple fact is that they decided to deploy a woefully inadequate police force during Game 7 festivities downtown.
The officers who were present undoubtedly did all they could given the circumstances. In fact, I've seen no evidence to suggest that any of them acted inappropriately, either by way of overzealous reaction to the violence or through acts of cowardice. On this, my colleague and I agree.
But I cannot share his overarching enthusiasm for the manner in which the police responded to the riot. By any measure, the response was a failure. Rioters ran amok. Fans' lives were endangered. Property was destroyed. And a few brave citizens found themselves attempting to stop the mayhem on their own, with no uniformed support.
It was a travesty, pure and simple.
It is true that the ultimate responsibility for the riot rests with its perpetrators and the many thrill-seeking egomaniacs who joined them. Nevertheless, the police force itself, and its directors, must also bear some of the blame for the Cup Calamity of 2011.
An award-winning journalist, a writer with Edmonton's Report Magazine and Toronto's Catholic Insight magazine, and co-host of RoadkillRadio.com, Face to Face columnist Terry O'Neill is a long-time Coquitlam resident who sits on the board of the Coquitlam Foundation and chairs the finance commitee of St. Joseph's Catholic parish.
