The sighting of a sniper on Saturday during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Waterloo was met with fear and shock by some partygoers, but one policing expert says this was a proactive measure designed to keep the crowd safe.

Scott Blandford is a program coordinator for public safety and policing programs at Wilfrid Laurier University and a retired police officer with six years of experience as a tactical officer on the Emergency Response Unit.

He says having a police sniper at large crowds or gatherings is necessary due to the potential threat.

“Whenever you have a large group of people together, even if it’s unrelated to any incident or context of what is going on in the world, it presents an opportunity for those that wish to create a statement through a terrorist activity or through some form of violence,” Blandford told CBC News. 

Waterloo Regional Police Services (WRPS) confirmed they deployed a sniper last Saturday during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Waterloo, following videos and photos circulating online of the sniper on a balcony overlooking an unsanctioned party on the streets of Waterloo.

“This is something that happens regularly at planned or unsanctioned events that we know there’ll be a large presence of public members,” Const. Melissa Quarrie, a spokesperson with WRPS, told CBC News.

“It does occur at large-scale events, not only with the regional police service, but our policing partners across the province and across Canada.”

Blandford says the presence of a sniper allows police to be in a position to react, instead of having to respond to a situation. 

“If you have an incident that’s happening deep inside that group of people, the officers have to wade through that large group to get there and be able to identify where exactly what’s happening,” he explained.

“If you have an over watch position with the high ground position, you can see what is going on. You can direct officers on the ground to it, and if necessary, you can create an immediate intervention as well.”

He says snipers are deployed based on risk assessment. Police take into account what the situation is, who’s gathering and what the potential threats are.

“In this case, because there’s a large group of people, it’s a well-known holiday, there’s alcohol involved, it’s very easy for people to infiltrate into a crowd if they wish to do harm,” Blandford said.

Some of the partygoers told CBC News they left the crowd after spotting the sniper because they were shocked and afraid.

“I don’t understand why they thought it was necessary. I’m not too sure why it was out in the open. That made it seem more of a threat than protection,” said Annelise Meerton, an Australian international exchange student who took video of the sniper.

Blandford says snipers remain invisible if they’re in a position where they may need to shoot to neutralize a threat. In this case, the sniper was intentionally visible.

“They want people to know they’re there because it increases a sense of safety or should increase a sense of safety for those people knowing that someone is watching over them,” he said.

‘They are there to protect you’

According to Blandford, people often look at the police as being aggressive to attendees, when it’s actually the opposite.

“They are there to protect you as an attendee, to let you do what it is you are there to do and to make sure that nothing inappropriate or violent happens while you’re in that group,” he said.

Bandford says instead of automatically attaching a negative connotation to police measures, people need to use critical thinking and understand why a tactical officer would be there.

Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe responded to the deployment of a sniper with “shock” on Saturday. She says she wasn’t informed of any concerns about weapons, extreme violence or any other issues that would require a sniper be deployed at the unsanctioned St. Patrick’s Day festivities.

Blandford says anticipating the worst helps officers deal with threats if they become a reality.

“If you don’t play into the worst case scenario, when that does happen, you don’t have a plan,” he said.

In the current political climate, Blandford says there’s a greater propensity for people with terroristic mindsets to inflict large amounts of damage. He points to events like the Bondi Beach shooting and recent shooting in downtown Toronto at the U.S. consulate. 

“So these types of situations are becoming more and more common and they’re presenting a greater and greater danger to the public … So if someone was like minded to do something of a terrorist activity to inflict damage and violence upon people, that’s the perfect opportunity.”