RCMP keep close eye on planned protests

Anyone putting together plans for a protest may find they are drawing unexpected attention.

Last month, Pictou County RCMP reported 16 occurrences for a new category in their monthly report to Pictou Town Council: Crime Prevention.

According to the report, crime prevention refers both to officers’ activities pertaining to house-arrests as well as “gathering information on planned protests or possible civil unrest.”

“It’s something that we’ve always been doing, but we thought it was important that we break that particular stat out on its own, so the town has a better idea of the activities of the police,” said Pictou County District RCMP Cpl. Greg Deagle.

He couldn’t say what percentage of last month’s occurrences under crime prevention were related to planned protests but says there are usually one or two a month.

“We work closely with the people involved in both sides. Some people are more public than others, and some of it is opensourced information,” he said. “A lot of it is posted online.”

With that information, Deagle said, officers determine their attendance at events accordingly. This could include unmarked cars, and officers in civilian clothes.

“There would be times when maybe a fully marked police car, or an officer in full uniform might do more to stir up the crowd than to keep the crowd at a calm level,” he said. “All we want to do is maintain public safety, that’s the main priority.”