Public inquiry documents shed light on internal discussions RCMP officials had with themselves during the Portapique shootings in April 2002.
We learned how the decision was made not to immediately warn the public about the danger.
The families of the victims who died on the second day of the massacre said that if they had known, their loved ones would not have left the house that day.
The tragedy spread over two days and ended in the deaths of 22 people, injuries and several houses destroyed. The Nova Scotia RCMP posted 11 messages on Twitter and Facebook alerting the public, but did not use the Alert Ready system.
Slow communication
The Mass Loss Commission has shared documents detailing behind-the-scenes deliberations about what can be shared with the public.
We learned that from the first hour of the tragedy, several police officers inquired about the steps taken to inform the public.
Staff from the operational communications center began calling Portapique residents to warn them to stay indoors.
Communications Officer Lisa Croteau told commission investigators Sergeant Andy O’Brien call him around 11:30 pm, 90 minutes after the first 911 call, to ask him to post on Twitter to let people know what’s going on.
At 11:32 pm, he had already posted RCMP responds to a gun complaint and people should avoid three streets in the community and stay in the house with the doors locked. At the time, he did not mention that there were people killed or injured.
Then RCMP did not interact with the public until 8:02 am the next morning. The message said officers were still in Portapique to respond to a situation with an active shooter. At the time, some officers knew the shooter had a replica police vehicle, but that information was not shared publicly for another two hours.
The media seeking information
Lisa Croteau planned around 5 am to go to Colchester County. Staff Sergeant, Steve Hallidayasked him to go there to handle media requests at the scene.
Upon arrival, he spoke to the Incident Commander, Staff Sgt. Jeff Westto get information that he can share with the media.
He knew they had a suspicion, but he did not press for details in case he leaked something he was not authorized to share.
I don’t really want to know because I want to help the mediatestified to Lisa Croteau in her interview with the Commission.
After knowing the occurrence of Wentworth and that the suspect was in a police vehicle, Lisa Croteau began to worry.
I didn’t feel safehe told the commission.
Behind the scenes on Sunday morning, there were discussions about what information should be made public. Lisa Croteau’s colleagues from the communications team talk to the commanders.
Staff Sergeant, Addie MacCallumcontacted Lia Scalan, the civilian communications director for the RCMP, who manages social media posts. They first talked around 7:45 am, and then he posted Twitter that the shooter is still active. The agent Heidi Stevenson also contacted the operational communications center at 8:44 am, asking if a press release was being considered.
The RCMP has been publicly identified Gabriel Wortman for the first time at 8:54 am, posted a description and photo on Twitter.
The paralysis of precision
Staff Sergeant Steve Halliday approved a post mentioning a replica police car at 9:49 am, but did not release the post within half an hour. He said in his testimony on Tuesday that as long as officials do not confirm that the car was not burned at the Portapique, it makes no sense to share this detail.
Posting it earlier could create a more difficult situation for our members to handle.he said.
However, last week, an expert hired by the commission warned against this method.
Michael Hallowes testified that he had found the paralysis of precision very worried.
Either you wait for perfect awareness of the situation and you don’t share what the public should know, or you talk and if you’re wrong you correct it.he said.
In the final hours of the drama, the shooter drove three different vehicles, shot and wounded the officer Chad Morrison and killed the agentHeidi Stevenson, Joey Webber and Gina Goulet.
In retrospect, many of the social media posts were outdated before they were published.
For example, when RCMP said the suspect was seen in Milford riding in a gray SUV, he had just arrived at the gas station Enfield in another vehicle. And only after he was shot was the RCMP it was published that the suspect was in custody before it was confirmed later in the day that he was dead.
With information from Elizabeth McMillan ng CBC
Source: Radio-Canada
