A new report says the RCMP weren’t the bad guys in G20 kettling incidents

The OPP, the Toronto police and the RCMP may all have been blamed for the “kettling” tactics at the G20 protest that launched lawsuits and had Amnesty International crying foul, but a new report suggests that the usual suspect, “confusion,” was to blame (well, more so than the RCMP anyway). The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP has spent the past year looking into the Mounties’ role in G20 policing. It has found that the Major Incident Command Centre, run by the Toronto police, was in charge of police tactics outside the summit centre, though OPP commanders were in charge of the front-line operation at Queen West and Spadina when the RCMP showed up to help cordon off the site. Apparently, kettling isn’t part of the RCMP playbook, but the Mounties deferred to the MICC while their commander searched for the OPP officer in charge for two hours, and was eventually told that the MICC wanted “everyone arrested.” Still confused over who’s to blame? There’s another report coming next month from former justice John Morden that should answer a lot of questions about the actions of all the forces involved. [Globe and Mail]