BCCLA Praises Police Repression

Heavy security force has tread lightly, rights group says
The Globe and Mail
By Robert Matas, The Globe and Mail, Friday, February 19, 2010

VANCOUVER - At the halfway mark of the 17-day Winter Olympics, the
Games' massive security operation - which civil libertarians once
warned would trample democratic rights - has so far stepped on few
toes.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association cautioned a few months ago that
the largest security operation in Canada's history, involving 15,500
soldiers, police officers and private security personnel at a cost
of $900-million, would lead to "Beijing 2.0-style" free-speech
violations and a legacy of unprecedented public surveillance.

But after flooding Olympic zones, the security forces have asserted
their authority quietly, mostly just by showing up.

"I was really impressed by the restraint of police at the opening
ceremonies demonstration," David Eby, the Civil Liberties
Association's executive director, said in an interview.

"I certainly thought there were opportunities for them to wade into
the crowd, to try to make arrests or disperse people using
crowd-control agents or pepper spray. They did not do any of those
things."

New surveillance cameras have constantly monitored the busiest
downtown intersections, but officials insist the cameras will be
gone by the end of the Paralympics. Squatters set up a tent city on
property leased to the Vancouver Organizing Committee, but
authorities have let them be. Protesters promoting a wide range of
causes have taken over downtown streets, but they have not had to
wipe pepper spray or tear gas from their eyes.

Security forces have had to deal with two serious breaches at BC
Place, including a possible threat to U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden.
But during the first week of stepped-up Olympic security, crime
rates plunged.

Theft from automobiles was down 58 per cent from Feb. 8 to 14,
compared with the same week the previous year. Serious assaults were
down 38 per cent; property crime, 39 per cent.

As many as 7,000 police officers and security personnel are
available for duty in the downtown core and north part of the city.
At most times, hundreds are on the street, compared with a few dozen
normally. "A visible presence is a deterrent," Vancouver police
Constable Lindsey Houghton said. "There is nothing to replace having
police officers out on the street, interacting with people."

Welcome to the new look of security.

The approach, designed particularly for a high-profile international
event, has surprised some prominent critics. Mr. Eby of the civil
liberties association rang the alarm bells early and often. "We are
very concerned that tactics we are seeing will result in a chill on
free speech," he said last summer.

The tone of his remarks this week was very different. "Generally
speaking, the police have been very restrained around
demonstrations," Mr. Eby said. "It's been very unusual. I did not
think that the tent city [set up to draw attention to homelessness]
would last overnight, but it has."

The civil liberties group remains concerned about officials from the
Canadian Border Services Agency and the provincial corrections
branch monitoring activists in public areas. The group also does not
like the cameras on the street. "We will be watching very carefully
after the Olympics to ensure they come down," Mr. Eby said.

Chris Shaw, a vocal critic of the Olympics since Vancouver made its
bid in 2003, believes security measures have been "over the top." He
and other outspoken critics continue to be under extensive police
surveillance, he said, adding that he remains skeptical that
surveillance cameras will disappear after the Games.

In any case, he condemned the precedent and wondered why a violation
of rights was acceptable for a period of time. "[It] makes me
question if we should have these extraordinary events. If it is
going to cost [nearly] $1-billion and we have to give up certain
things that are supposed to be our values, then why should we do
it?"

But Mr. Shaw also acknowledged he did not foresee the police
reaction to protests last week. Police appeared to be willing to let
things happen and step in only if events got out of hand.

"They could have been more over the top ...," he said. "It is a
little surprising they were not."