Vancouver police have wrapped up policing activities related to the World Cup, noting it was the single largest deployment of officers ever in Vancouver.
As many as 1,300 officers were out and about on each of the seven BC Place match days, Vancouver police said in a briefing Monday (July 20).
The joint Canada-U.S.-Mexico tournament ran for 39 days across 16 host cities and wrapped up Sunday with the final match between Spain and Argentina. Spain scored in extra time for a 1-0 win.
While Vancouver played host to seven matches, there were watch parties across the city and fan zones in the Granville Entertainment District, Jack Poole Plaza for the TSN broadcast and FIFA Fan Festival at the PNE grounds. Police also escorted 16 fan marches and Vancouver police provided 312 vehicle escorts from June 11 to July 8, including for internationally protected persons and heads of state, and lower-level escorts for team buses to and from games and practices.
In World Cup-specific areas – BC Place, FIFA Fan Festival and Granville Street – there were nearly 200 arrests related to the Criminal Code, intoxicated people and breach of peace. However, police noted there was overlap between some intoxication and breach of peace files as some people may have been arrested for both. Sixteen foreign nationals were arrested for public intoxication and breach of peace.
At BC Place, there were two breach of peace arrests and two public intoxication arrests.
The FIFA Fan Festival had three Criminal Code arrests, six breach of peace files and three intoxication files. Between June 11 and July 14, there were roughly 500,000 people that attended the festival, with the highest turnout on June 18 for the Canada vs. Qatar game with 40,943 attendees, followed by the June 24 Canada vs. Switzerland match with 40,550 attendees.
On Granville Street, 36 people were arrested under the Criminal Code, 99 for breach of peace and 42 for public intoxication.
At other watch parties, there was one Criminal Code arrest, two breach of peace files and one public intoxication file.
Vancouver police Supt. Jeff Neuman said the department anticipated higher numbers in the Granville Entertainment District.
“While it was busy over a sustained period, it was largely peaceful, with average daily arrests comparable to what we see in the GED on a long weekend, especially when you factor in the number of people there on match days,” Neuman said.
The pedestrian zone stretched between Georgia and Davie streets, with full closures on Vancouver match days.
“While it’s difficult to quantify the number of soccer fans who chose to celebrate (or commiserate) together in the GED, it was certainly a huge draw during FIFA before, during and after matches,” said Deputy Chief Const. Don Chapman, who led FIFA security planning and coordination.
He added the Vancouver Police Department is supportive of the extension of the pedestrian zone. The City of Vancouver announced it would be extending it through to Labour Day and the provincial government has announced businesses can apply for extensions for temporary patio licences through to the long weekend, as well.
“Now that FIFA is over, visitors to the area can expect to see strong deployment daily, nightly and on weekends, in addition to our regular policing complement in the downtown core,” Chapman said.
Chapman said Vancouver police planned and trained for the tournament for years “and that planning paid off with a truly world-class event, while maintaining business continuity and our core policing duties across the city.”
Police officers had gone to soccer matches in England, Scotland and France to better learn the needs of policing similar events.
Vancouver police drone pilots also flew a total of 811 flights between June 11 and July 13, including 597 over the Last Mile (the final walk into the stadium), BC Place, Granville Street, Jack Poole Plaza and Jonathan Rogers Park. Skydio drones were dispatched 214 times as part of the Stadium Quick Response Team.
Police said there was a total of 745 unauthorized drone flights on the seven match days in restricted airspaces. Forty-five of those were identified and told to land their drones and not fly them in the area, while another 40 drones were remotely jammed and removed from the sky by law enforcement.
In Vancouver, local police were assisted by officers from the RCMP, Metro Vancouver Transit Police, Delta Police Department, Calgary Police Service and Edmonton Police Service.
Police noted that at the same time as World Cup, Vancouver was also facing its “busiest” cruise ship season, with more than 100 ships in port. Officers also managed 118 protests.
From June 11 to July 13, Vancouver Police Department officers responded to 18,489 calls for service – about 560 per day.