WARNING: the next tweet will contain a perfunctory and gentle reminder that this thread might contain disturbing material. If that reminder may TRIGGER YOU and make you write ridiculous tweets, you may want to mute the thread #MCC
Good morning. I'm at the Mass Casualty Commission (the public inquiry into the mass murders of April 18/19, 2020). The discussion may include disturbing material. If you want to avoid that, you can mute the hashtag #MCC
Today, Staff Sergeants Jeff West and Kevin Surette will testify. #MCC
West and Surette are testifying together as a panel. This is not good, as it allows them to stay on page. #MCC
West is on the left, Surette on right. Both are now retired. #MCC 
This is neither here nor there, but if you're ever called to testify in front of the cameras, be sure to make lots of hand gestures so you look animated in the photos. So far, the only witness to understand this has been Tim Mills. #MCC
#MCC lawyer Roger Burrill is question West and Surette. So far, it's just been about their careers and training as Critical Incident Commanders (CIC).
Burrill points West and Surette to this paragraph in yesterday's document #MCC
Based on the single phone call from Halliday, West readily agreed the unfolding situation met the criteria for a critical incident. At issue is what triggers the CIC, but I don't think anyone would argue that the CIC shouldn't have been called out #MCC
But West didn't have the ability to call out the ERT, so he called Superintendent Darren Campbell, who had that authority. So: Halliday —> West —> Campbell —> Mills. West said there's no problem with that chain of command #MCC
West explains that the CIC "package" (as opposed to just him as the CIC) involves up to 30 "resources" across the province, which would have a real impact on RCMP across the province #MCC
Burrill asks about "may have been associated to a police vehicle" in West's notes. West says that's what Halliday told him. He "can't recall" if he asked for more information #MCC
West called Tim Mills, the commander of the Emergency Response Team (ERT). West was at home in HRM, went to the RCMP headquarters in Dartmouth to "gear up" and obtain a "scribe" — the note taker for an incident #MCC
The Scribe was Sgt. Ron Lewis, who met West at headquarters. #MCC
West who was the CIC in charge, but he called Surette at 10:59pm, who lives in Yarmouth, to come to be an assistant CIC. The weather was shit that night, and it took airc 4 hours for Surette to make it to Great Village #MCC
Burrill asks about the Bass River reference in this paragraph. West *thinks* it was Al Carroll who picked Bass River and he (West) didn't initially realize Bass River was past Portapique #MCC
West explains that in rural Nova Scotia "there is an abundance of fire halls" that can be used for command posts. Burrill asks why not make a permanent command post at headquarters, with all available tech, etc. West says that would have to be "tabletopped"... #MCC
In general, the process has been to be close, but not too close, to the scene. Changing that may not work in all areas of the province #MCC
Going to Bass River, West got "lost" but he was redirected to Great Village #MCC
West can't remember if his vehicle had a Mobile Work Station, and so therefore GPS. Burrill saying it's not a great thing for a Critical Incident Commander to be lost #MCC
Burrill asks West about this: who's there? West: Dave Lilly with the children. EHS. "I don't recall who else" #MCC
West was not speaking with Beselt in Portapique, but he was talking with Mills, the ERT commander #MCC
When he said "uniform side of the house was in control" he means the risk manager, etc, not cops at Great Village #MCC
Burrill asks West if he had "information overload." West says there was a "constant inflow of information from various sources ... it's impossible to listen to radio traffic, be on the phone, and in-person conversation at the same time" #MCC
Burrill asks about the "boards" put on the walls of the command post — just white sheets of paper taped to the wall, with various sets of info. Both West and Surette say this works well #MCC
West says the "uniform command" in this instance was Halliday #MCC
Burrill asks about "radio challenges" #MCC
We're taking a 15 minute break #MCC
We're back, and the discussion is going to mapping. This can get a little too technical for a Twitter thread, so I'll just summarize. #MCC
Burrill asks about these maps. Neither West nor Surette remember these maps, but rather other hand-drawn maps. West says the map he say was specific to Portapique #MCC
The person in Five Houses who called 911 about someone walking in the woods with a flashlight was Adam Pike. ERT was sent there to check it out, it turned out to be the wind blowing a tree branch in front of a light. #MCC
It's easy to say in retrospect of course, but it seems very unlikely that the killer would've ended up across the river walking around the woods #MCC
The decision to evacuate Portapique was made at 2:50. #MCC
Long discussion about air support, which basically boils down to "whaddayagonna do?" #MCC
Burrill asks West about "conflict of command" between West and O'Brien #MCC
West: somebody was standing down resources without my approval. In my career as a CIC, this has never happened before #MCC
Burrill suggest that getting the drone up at 6:13am "seems a little late." West says he's not a tech guy, doesn't know the limitations, time it takes to deploy, etc. #MCC
Burrill asks who should put info out to the public. In his #MCC interview, West said that was tasked to Halliday
Now getting at the important issue of communicating to the public #MCC
Burrill asks what West understood about the replica police vehicle before Lisa Banfield came out of the woods. West said he thought it was a decommissioned car. Burrill: why "decommissioned" West: someone said he collected decommissioned cars MORE #MCC
West says he did NOT know about the children's description of the car, or Andrew MacDonald's description #MCC
Surette says that Halliday told them at 6:20 or 6:25 that he had talked with MacDonald, who said that GW drove *into* Portapique after he shot MacDonald. Burrill points out that MacDonald was available way before then #MCC
The discussion has moved to the Wentworth/Glenholme situation. Surette is referring the the "GD members," which means "General Duty members" and not... something else #MCC
Burrill asks about roadblocks and checkpoints. West says roadblocks are "member heavy" and may create a "target-rich environment" — lots of people stopped on the highway, sitting ducks for a shooter #MCC
Surette: we knew that there was probably going to be a shoot-out at some point, and we didn't want that shoot-out to happen at 2 kilometres of cars backed up #MCC
We're on break until 2:10, at which time West and Surette will be (sorta) cross-examined #MCC
We're back. Lawyer Matt MacLellan starts the questioning #MCC
MacLellan asks West about this containment point. West says when he arrived he wasn't aware that the points east of Portapique were not contained for an hour and a half #MCC
Also when he arrived, West also was not told that Cst. Colford was told by Kate MacDonald that there was a second way out of Portapique #MCC
MacLellan: "what is the process for interviewing a child witness?" Both West and Surette look blankly for 10 seconds, then suggests that maybe someone will bring in children services #MCC
MacLellan: anyone ask the locals about the geography of Portapique? West: I'm not aware of that. #MCC
MacLellan points to this map, and West agrees that he was aware at around 5am that a containment point was in place at the end of Brown Loop #MCC
MacLellan asks West if, had he known Portapique hadn't been contained for so long, if that would've changed anything. West says it's impossible to say what he would've done, as he acted on what he knew at the time #MCC
MacLellan asks about the "may have been associated with a police vehicle" statement. West says he didn't know if GW was driving a vehicle or if it was just there. #MCC
MacLellan:"Did you require evidence that he was somewhere else that he was no longer in Portapique?" West says there was no indication he was anywhere else. Surette adds they did prepare for that, and that's why they issued the BOLOs. #MCC
Surette: If we pulled ERT out, where would we send them? #MCC
MacLellan asks if either West or Surette knew about Heidi Stevenson's request that the public be told about the fake car. Neither were. And both say they were not consulted about the media release #MCC
Now lawyer Josh Bryson asks when the CIC would be activated, showing a slide of the various 911 calls. West says it's not dependent on the 911 calls, but members on the ground or their superiors calling him is what activates the CIC #MCC
Bryson asks, if in hindsight, they are comfortable with how the public messaging happened. He then shows this timeline of @RCMPNS tweets #MCC
Bryson asks if "firearms complaint" is a fair representation of what was happening at 11:32. West says he wasn't in position yet. #MCC
Here are the tweets issued by @RCMPNS from April 18-20, 2020: twitter.com/search?q=(from…
It may be just me, I'm not sure, but for whatever reason, when I do that search, I don't find this tweet. It also does not show up on the list Bryson presents. halifaxexaminer.ca/wp-content/upl…
Bryson asks about Cobequid Court (he represents the family of Joy and Peter Bond, who were killed on Cobequid Court). #MCC
If anyone else can find this tweet, please let me know. If not, am I to assume it was deleted? halifaxexaminer.ca/wp-content/upl…
People make mistakes, but government agencies shouldn't be deleting tweets, especially when those tweets are the subject of an inquiry looking into, in part, the public agency's communications with the public
Now Tara Miller, who represents the family of Kristen Beaton asks questions. #MCC
Miller refers to this part of the latest document. West says he wasn't aware of the checkpoints. #MCC
Miller shows this part of the doc, the point being that at 6:44 police were told that GW intended to head to Dartmouth, so why were checkpoints established around Truro. Surette says they had already got HRPD to check those residences #MCC
Whoops, here's the selection: #MCC
This is just weird: #MCC
Miller points to the part, and asks why a roadblock or checkpoint wasn't established near Truro at that point #MCC
Miller points out that there was a checkpoint established at the Cobequid Pass toll booth as early as 2am, and still there at 8am #MCC
Miller points to this from the report on the Moncton shootings: "It is recommended that... eachDivision establish a policy and protocol ... to identify entry/exit points and major transportation routs that should be alerted and monitored in the event of a relevant crisis" #MCC
Neither West nor Surette were aware of that recommendation #MCC
The point: there are all sorts of public inquiries — into wrongful convictions, terrible events like this, etc — and the recommendations almost as a rule are never implemented. It's a reasonable, if regrettable, response to say the inquiries are a wast of time & money #MCC
I hasten to add: that's the WRONG response. The correct response is to insist that the recommendations are implemented #MCC
I agree with West: the "boards" — sheets of paper taped to the walls with various information — are a useful way to organize a lot of info quickly. I've been doing something similar in my own office #MCC
I think, for myself, were I in a position such as this (which I'm utterly unqualified for), I'd record myself, just have my little digital recorder going for the 10 hours or whatever
Commissioner Leanne Fitch points out that Mills, the ERT leader, did not return to the command post 2 or 3 times when directed so. West says it was simply a staffpower issue. #MCC
We're done today. The #MCC proceedings will resume next Wednesday in Truro.
If you find this reporting on the #MCC useful, please consider subscribing to the Halifax Examiner. Subscribers make this work possible. THANKS halifaxexaminer.ca/subscription-a…
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