Over 200 charges were laid and there were 72 calls for noise and nuisance complaints during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations on March 14 in Waterloo. 

The crowd, at its peak, was approximately 7,500 people, a smaller number than last year’s crowd of approximately 25,000.

Police say between March 13 and March 18, they completed several operational deployments in Waterloo to ensure the safety of residents, public and attendees during the “large unsanctioned gatherings.”

One measure included the deployment of a sniper, which was met with shock and fear by some people.

“We’re very deliberate and careful about every single thing that we do in our deployment,” Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) Chief Mark Crowell said during the question period after a police service board meeting Wednesday.

“Providing that tactical over watch was very deliberate to mitigate any mass casualty considerations,” Crowell explained.

A total of 218 charges were laid by police, including:

• 58 Liquor Licence and Control Act.
• 128 Highway Traffic Act.
• Three Trespass to Property Act.
• 10 other.
• 12 by-law.
• Six Criminal Code.
• One Cannabis Control Act.

City of Waterloo municipal enforcement responded to 72 calls for noise and nuisance, including:

• Seven nuisance party charges ($800).
• Six block or interfere with pedestrian or vehicle traffic charges ($800).
• 21 noise charges ($400) .
• Three public urination charges ($400) .
• 49 orders issued for clean-up lot maintenance/property standards .

“We are disappointed that students and others continued to gather on our streets, creating a nuisance and a community safety concern,” said Grant Curlew, acting director of Municipal Enforcement Services in a news release.

He says there were no significant injuries and crowds were smaller and more contained than previous years.

Crowd management ‘very expensive,’ chair of police board

Regardless of the crowd size, Ian McLean, chair of the WRPS police board, said the St. Patrick’s event requires the same amount of planning every year.

“We can’t be dependent on whether we have bad weather or where it lands on the calendar that we have to plan for this event,” he said, reflecting on the smaller crowd sizes this year.

“We have to stop it, not just manage it. We have to stop this because it is very risky and very expensive.”

Crowell said this year’s management of the unsanctioned party for St. Patrick’s Day went as planned.

“We continue to be very concerned with the total cost, the level of risk and the stress upon all of our systems related to managing this event over multiple days,” Crowell said.

“Moving forward, we will provide an analysis based on the impact such as crowd size, the number of charges laid and also some future planning commitments that we’ll be making with our partners to stem the tide … We’re continuing to take a really firm approach to wanting to see this end and to not have such a dramatic impact upon our community.”