Ottawa police dealing with threats, fake calls tying up resources

Ottawa police say as they attempt to contain and eventually bring an end to the 11-day "Freedom Convoy" demonstration downtown, phony calls and threats are tying up their limited resources.

Police Chief Peter Sloly told Ottawa city council at a special meeting on Monday that the resources of the Ottawa Police Services are severely strained and he is requesting 1,800 additional personnel, including more 1,700 officers and 100 civilian personnel. Mayor Jim Watson and Ottawa Police Services Board chair Diane Deans sent letters to the federal and provincial governments requesting any additional police resources they can supply. The entire Ottawa Police Service is made up of 2,100 members, including 1,200 police officers.

But Sloly said some people are calling in false threats to tie up police resources further.

"We have people phoning in false messages, swatting messages to our police operations centre for active explosive IED events, gun events, that are drawing our resources away," Sloly said. "We now have an active investigation south of the border to identify that."

Swatting is the act of calling police and lying that a major, life-threatening event is occurring at a particular location, in order to bring a significant number of resources to the area. Often, it is used as an attempt to frighten or intimidate people in the area identified and has had deadly consequences.

Deputy Police Chief Steve Bell said there was also a threat made against Ottawa police headquarters Monday morning.

"A threat to the physical building at 474 Elgin today, that has resulted in co-operation with American authorities and ultimately ended with the arrest of a person who initiated those threats from Putnam County, Ohio," Bell said.

Bell did not identify the individual or say whether charges were laid, nor did he say whether the individual made the threat as a result of or in response to police actions surrounding the demonstration.

Police have faced criticism from residents for the length of the demonstration and an apparent lack of enforcement, allegations against which Sloly has repeatedly pushed back. Supporters of the convoy have criticized the police for enforcing the law, including with regard to Saturday's seizure of fuel and supplies in the parking lot of the baseball stadium on Coventry Road, which had become a staging area for protesters.

The Putnam County Sherriff's office told CTV News Ottawa by phone that a bomb threat was made, but they could not provide any additional information at this time.

The "Freedom Convoy" arrived in Ottawa on Jan. 28, which a much larger contingent arriving the next day. Since then, there have been hundreds of trucks left on the streets and hundreds of demonstrators who have refused to leave the downtown core. Trucks have been idled constantly and protesters have been honking their horns nearly non-stop since the demonstration began, something Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson called "tantamount to psychological torture."

A 10-day injunction was granted by a judge to stop the honking, but it remains unclear how it will be enforced.