Over a dozen letters, expressing concerns over COVID-19 restriction protests in Saskatoon, were reviewed by the Board of Police Commissioners this week.

Police Chief Troy Cooper says earlier in the year when attending gatherings where a breach of the public health order occurred, police would target key participants for enforcement. He says early in May a request was made by the Public Health Agency to increase enforcement and monitoring around gatherings due to variants of concern.

Cooper says additional enforcement on a May 9th protest led to 18 tickets being issued at the scene and a significant more in the resulting investigation. That also led to police asking for the public’s assistance for the first time. Thursday, the Saskatoon Police Service even released pictures of people they believe attended a recent protest, asking for the public’s assistance to identify them.

Chief Cooper says this is the sort of thing that’s going to be ongoing until Public Health Order restrictions are lifted.  He adds people who are gathering can expect to be held to account if they are in breach of Public Health Orders.