‘We cannot do this alone’: Sloly formally requests to have ‘major resources’ deployed within 72 hours

“We need more help… We need more to get this done.”

That was the message stressed by Ottawa’s police chief Peter Sloly on Monday, February 7 in a briefing to media. 

While “significant” strides have been made — especially in the last four days — towards ending the protest, police resources are stretched and more is needed from the provincial and federal government. 

That’s why, Sloly said, he will be sending a formal request to Mayor Jim Watson that will include a list of additional resources Ottawa’s police service needs going forward — resources, he added, that are essential to ending the protest lawfully, safely and effectively.

As Sloly explained, a letter will be drafted and sent within the hour — a letter which will then be handed off to the solicitor general and then to Public Safety Canada.

And while the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) has been making requests for help since before the truckers arrive in town, this next letter will not include incremental requests as they have before. 

Sloly assures that this next letter will ask for major resources that the service will need within the next 72 hours.

“We are turning up the heat in any way we can,” Sloly said, as reported by CBC.

(CityNews Ottawa did not receive an advisory from the Ottawa Police Service regarding this media briefing)

The weekend has been a busy time for OPS, Sloly added. 

Every officer has been working up to 12 hour days — some for the full 10 days straight — and all days off requested by officers were cancelled. 

Police also performed a “major public order operation” when police raided an encampment that had been erected at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Park (RCGT) Park on Coventry Road.

The encampment included storage of fuel, tents, saunas, parked big rigs, and more. 

“We tried to end it through negotiation as we will do in every aspect,” Sloly said. “When that failed, we went into a public order operation. It includes covert assets as well as investigation intelligent assets.”

As a result, seven people were arrested and charged criminally. He also said police seized oil tankers and erected fences to secure the area.

Police have also been following the money trail and cutting off any financial assets going towards funding the protest they can find. 

The GoFundMe campaign has officially been cut off, which means the convoy will not be getting the $10 million or so that was fundraised.

“We will be relentless in pursuing the funding that has allowed the protesters go on to this point,” he said. 

Sloly added that investigators continue to go after other financial avenues that are supporting the protest and its protesters. 

“We have been 100 per cent full out on this for the last 10 days straight and we will not rest until it’s done, but we need more help,” Sloly said. “We cannot do it alone.”