Ottawa police officers return to downtown-area neighbourhoods

Ottawa police officers are heading back out on patrol in several central residential neighbourhoods, after being pulled in to deal with the convoy protest on Parliament Hill.

Chief Peter Sloly announced that neighbourhood resource teams and crime prevention officers would be returning to the ByWard Market, Centretown, Lowertown and Sandy Hill, effective Tuesday, February 1.

“Their jobs will be to provide direct support services, safety services, customer service, to the residents and business owners, the not-for-profit sector, the service providers, in and around the core,” said Sloly. “Unfortunately, we needed those officers over the last four days; every single one of those officers was deployed fully and continually.”

The residential neighbourhoods have borne the brunt of many of the effects of the protest: loud, seemingly endless honking of large truck and vehicle horns, public drunkenness and defecation, leaving residents frightened to leave their homes.

“I have never, in any protest — and we have protests here almost weekly — I have never heard from anyone that they were frightened,” said Somerset Councillor Catherine McKenney, whose ward includes downtown Ottawa and Centretown. “But people are frightened by the behaviour, especially right now in our residential neighbourhoods; it's frightening.”

McKenney says the targets have included two young people who hung a pride flag; people outside yelled insults and threw things at their windows, before someone defecated just outside of their door.

“Later in the evening, a truck, again with people from the Hill and from the protest, came back and were intimidating them, yelling at them,” McKenney told The Sam Laprade Show on CityNews Ottawa. “So, at that point, we got a police escort and they left their place and are staying with friends,” 

Sloly said the Ottawa Police Service is negotiating with protest organizers but was adamant that “all options are on the table” to bring the protest to an end.