St. Patrick’s Day injunction ‘did not discourage attendance’: WRPS report

The court injunction against this year’s unsanctioned St. Patrick’s Day student street party in Waterloo “did not discourage attendance,” but it did provide some benefits.

A final report to the Waterloo Regional Police Services Board presented Wednesday morning lays out the pros, cons and statistics from enforcing safety and patrolling the 2025 event.

This was the first year the City of Waterloo obtained a court injunction against the street party, and the report says, “The injunction did not discourage attendance to the unsanctioned event, however, it did appear to influence and discourage problem behaviours with the majority of individuals compliant with police and bylaw direction.”

The final report says one large party occurred on Saturday, March 15, two days before actual St. Patrick’s Day.

In the morning and early afternoon, it was only individuals taking part in small gatherings on private property who “were respectful and abiding by the law.”

But the report says soon before 3:00, “a large crowd was observed descending onto the roadway on Marshall Street, in what appeared to be a planned, coordinated takeover of the street.”

The crowd estimate in the report says “the gathering peaked at approximately 20,000 people in the mid-afternoon hours.”

The report says WRPS officers switched over to crowd management and public safety efforts, and were forced to close multiple streets to oncoming traffic. Police took to their PA system soon after 6:30, and “using the authority of the injunction,” told the crowd to disperse.

The report said everyone was cleared away safely, with no significant injuries or property damage reported.

Only one individual was charged with disobeying the court injunction, and that person is also charged with assault.

After four days of patrolling the event, 256 charges were laid, which was almost the same number as in 2024.

This year, there were only about one-third of the Liquor Licence Act charges laid as there were last year, but Highway Traffic Act and Criminal Code charges were up.

The report says the final cost to WRPS for the street party this year was $308,800, which is down by more than $8,000 compared to 2024.

The report says that’s mostly due to only having one day of provincial police assisting, and no extra costs for closed-circuit security systems as there were last year.