Hamilton police didn't stand back and watch violence at Pride, OIPRD report says

A report to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) concludes police responded properly to the violence at Hamilton's Pride festival last year, and did the best they could with what they knew about the threat.

A leaked copy of the November report was obtained by CBC News, just days before the Hamilton Police Services Board is due to receive a separate, independent review of how officers conducted themselves at Pride.

The confidential report to OIPRD, conducted and submitted by an HPS staff sergeant, says police had a proper operational plan around the June 15, 2019 event and that within half an hour of being made aware of the confrontation, 48 officers were on scene.

The investigation, which included interviews with witnesses and officers, also concluded that police didn't stand and watch violence when they could have intervened, which was an allegation critics had made after the incident.

The report also reveals widely different versions of what was said during a key planning conversation between police and a Pride organizer two days before the event.

"This investigation has discovered that the policies and procedures were followed in this instance and that there were no identified issues," said the report, signed by Det. Sgt. Gary Heron.

Heron submitted the report to the OIPRD last November after three people complained. Per the OIPRD process, when complaints are found to be unsubstantiated, no further action is taken. The 110-page report encompasses all three complaints.

Cameron Kroetsch, a member of the Pride Hamilton board, was already familiar with the report and its conclusions when contacted for comment by CBC Thursday. He said it amounted to an internal investigation, with HPS investigating itself, so the finding wasn't a surprise.

"I didn't come into this with the expectation that I would be [satisfied], to be honest with you," he said, because "I don't think the process is satisfactory."

In an email Friday, OIPRD director Stephen Leach confirmed that there are no ongoing investigations of complaints alleging police misconduct at the Pride event.

The complaints came after the Pride festival last June, when just before 1 p.m., a group of protesters arrived at the festival with homophobic signs and a loud speaker. A group of people with pink masks used a large black curtain to block the protesters from view of the festival, and violence broke out between the two groups. Several people were injured.

One protester, Christopher Vanderweide, is seen on video wielding a helmet, and has since been charged with assault with a weapon.

On the counter-protester side, one person was charged with assault, and three others with parole or probation breaches, although one was later found to not be at the festival. The report says officers wanted to charge another person who was among the religious protesters, but couldn't find the victim.

In addition to the three OIPRD complaints, Chief Eric Girt also received two service complaints. HPS wouldn't say Thursday what happened as a result of those complaints.

12-minute conversation

The HPS board also hired Toronto lawyer Scott Bergman, at a maximum cost of $600,000, to do an independent review. Bergman's report is due next week.

The leaked OIPRD report includes interviews with Kroetsch and Sgt. Jennifer Granatier, who present different versions of a 12-minute conversation they had two days before the event.

Kroetsch has said he warned police of a possible protester presence after the same group arrived at the 2018 festival, and protested in roughly the same area of the park. He also said he pointed Granatier to an online map of the park and outlined where the protest would likely be.

Granatier said Kroetsch told her that police weren't welcome inside the perimeter of the festival, and that organizers weren't worried about the possible protesters. Kroetsch said in the interview that he pointed to certain areas of the park and said police could wait for protesters there.

The November report says it was "unclear" whether uniformed officers were allowed or wanted at the event. Granatier also said she was never shown a map. 

Stands by his statements 

Kroetsch told CBC News that he was confused by the varying versions laid out in the report and stands by the statements he made in it.

The report also says some of the officers who responded couldn't find the protest, and needed festival attendees to point them in the right direction. Kroetsch said that didn't make sense to him, since HPS responded in 2018 too.

Here's a chronology, as laid out in the report:

• 11:15 a.m.: Two uniformed officers arrive at Gage Park, preparing to patrol the periphery. Pride Hamilton didn't hire paid duty officers, but hired five security guards. The event runs from noon to 6 p.m.
• Noon: Two plain-clothed officers arrive to blend in with the festival crowd.
• 12:50 p.m.: The first 9-1-1 call is received, saying the religious group has shown up with signs. 
• 12:51 p.m.: Dispatch tells Acting Sgt. Jason Sorbara about the group. Sorbara calls the plain-clothed officers, who don't see any issues from within the event space, but start walking toward the northeast part of the park, following the crowd. Meanwhile, four uniformed officers on the periphery get ready to go into the park with their vests and hats.
• 12:54 p.m.: A second person calls 9-1-1, saying the protesters are screaming hateful things about homosexuals and immigrants. 
• 12:55 p.m.: Sorbara learns that a group from city hall, where people in yellow vests have been congregating every weekend, is headed to Gage Park.
• 12:58 p.m.: A third person calls 9-1-1 and says no one is in trouble, but the scene is getting combative. 
• 1 p.m.: The plain-clothed officers reach the centre of the confrontation.
• 1:02 p.m.: Sorbara and three uniformed officers enter the park, but aren't sure where the protest is located. People in the park give them directions. Getting to the protest takes "several minutes."
• 1:05 p.m.: A fourth person calls 9-1-1, screaming for police to get to Gage Park for a violent riot, and hangs up.
• 1:06 p.m.: A fifth person calls 9-1-1 saying there's a fight with 10 or 20 people near the rose garden, but that the fight might be settled. He says he sees no weapons or injuries.
• 1:07 p.m.: There are now eight officers responding.
• 1:09 p.m.: A sixth person calls 9-1-1 and says the protest is getting violent, with "people getting punched." The caller says four officers have arrived.
• 1:11 p.m.: Two teams of officers are now en route from city hall.
• 1:20 p.m.: Twenty officers have responded.
• 1:31 p.m.: Forty-eight officers have responded. One of the officers responding says about 100 Pride attendees had gathered now, and the religious and yellow vest group was "beginning to get flanked." At this point, officers are separating the two sides.
• 1:45 p.m.: The religious protesters ask to be escorted out of the park, and half of the officers who responded from city hall follow them out. Pride attendees disperse and the incident ends.

Bergman will present his report, which is also the result of months of interviews, to the police services board on June 11.