A video circulating on social media of a VicPD officer giving a thumbs up from his vehicle to a crowd of people protesting vaccine mandates has prompted a response from Victoria’s Police Chief.
The officer faced online criticism after giving a thumbs up twice to crowds of people lining the sidewalk near the Parliament building on Saturday, calling for governments to scrap COVID-19 related mandates.
Thousands attended the area in support of the “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa which started in response to the federal government’s vaccine mandate for Canadian cross-border essential workers, including truckers.
Victoria Police Chief Del Manak released a statement on Monday stating he initially viewed the video with concern because “impartiality and neutrality are key” when working as police officer.
“I have since spoken to the officer, who told me that he was responding to appreciative comments from citizens about VicPD’s presence in ensuring public safety at the event,” said Manak.
There are two separate videos of the same officer giving a thumbs up to the protestors—his vehicle is heading in different directions each time, suggesting he looped back around.
In recognition of VicPD giving a literal thumbs up to anti-vaccination and white supremacist protests, here’s a thread of FOI’d VicPD emails showing how it developed its policy that officers do not have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and can instead take tests. #cdnfoi #yyj pic.twitter.com/EhljzRXI1m
— Stephen Harrison (@step_harrison) January 30, 2022
As a bookend, not content with a single display of support, the officer in the original video drove back the other direction to give the crowd another thumbs up. Indeed, VicPD. Indeed. pic.twitter.com/Y50Vmkv5TJ
— Stephen Harrison (@step_harrison) January 30, 2022
In Manak’s statement, he also stated that officers attended 170 protests in 2021 to keep peace and while remaining impartial and neutral “are essential at these events, so is proactive engagement with protest participants and bystanders in the interest of public safety.”
While VicPD said most officers are fully vaccinated, the police force does not require officers or staff members to receive COVID-19 vaccines. Those who are not fully vaccinated must undergo regular testing.