Vancouver police believed fans would watch the Stanley Cup final at other sites in the Lower Mainland, sparing Vancouver huge and ultimately violent crowds, previously unseen police records show.
And on that assumption the Vancouver police budgeted only two-thirds of the money on this year's Stanley Cup final that they would have spent on a hypothetical round four last year, documents show.
"The department had noticed a decrease in momentum and a spreading out of celebrations over the entire Lower Mainland in the past few years," said Insp. Rick McKenna, according to minutes of the Vancouver Police Board from March 16, which were obtained by the Globe and Mail.
That logic appeared to play out in many of the round 4 games against the Boston Bruins, as fans watched the game at celebration sites such as those in Surrey and Abbotsford.
But in Game 7 an already massive downtown crowd was joined by angry fans streaming into the downtown core. The ensuing riot saw dozens of businesses vandalized, people injured, and cars burned.
The morning after, Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu told reporters that he felt there should have been more officers. The province is now spearheading a review to determine what mistakes were made.
The mayor e-mailed a statement to CTV News, saying, "Chief Chu has said – and I agree – that in hindsight there should have been more police deployed last night. That's obviously something an independent review will look at."
Comparing reports to council from 2010 and 2011 also provides a clue to how many police officers were deployed last week.
Before the 2010 playoffs, police estimated that a round 4 showing would cost $645,339.40 for 323 officers, according to an April 14, 2010 report.
But in a report to council on April 19, 2011, the police chief asked for $427,931 for an unspecified number of officers – only 2/3 as much. Police have refused to say how many officers were deployed this year, saying that is a tactical detail and should not be disclosed.
"The emergence of 72nd Avenue and Scott Road in Surrey and Fraser Way in Abbotsford as alternate gathering locations occurred, which spread the problem out," the chief wrote in the April 19 report. "We saw smaller crowds in Vancouver as a result."
The chief also wrote in his conclusion, "This proposed deployment plan can be described as our minimum recommended deployment. It is reasonable to anticipate that crowds in this "post-Olympic" sport celebratory atmosphere will be larger than most years.
"We anticipate that should the large crowds arrive in the early round of the playoffs we may need to increase the deployment to that of the latter rounds earlier than in previous years."
It's not clear if the budget was adjusted after big screens went up on Georgia Street or after police gauged the size of the crowds in earlier games.
