Canadian police badge numbers appeared on helmets in Ottawa — they weren’t removed

A video being shared on Facebook pans across the green uniforms of officers holding batons and wearing riot helmets with face shields. There are black rectangular patches on the left chest of the uniforms, but no names or numbers are visible on them. 

"Justin Trudeau’s SQ (Quebec provincial police service) officers removed their identifying names and badge numbers from their uniforms in Ottawa," a description of the video says, implying that there was an effort by officers to escape accountability for their actions. 

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Officers of the Sûreté du Québec, Quebec’s provincial police force, were recently dispatched to Ottawa, Canada’s capital, to help clear a blockade by truck drivers and other people protesting COVID-19 vaccine mandates. 

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Sûreté du Québec spokesperson Marythé Bolductold us that the officers’ badge numbers appear on the front of their helmets when they’re wearing crowd control uniforms, and that it isn’t unique to this protest. 

"We always do that, every time," Bolduc said. 

While many of the officers’ helmets are out of frame in the Facebook video, several numbers on the front of the helmets are visible. They’re also visible in this photo that appeared in the French-language newspaper Le Devoir, this photo of officers in Ottawa on Feb. 18 that appeared on the CBC’s website, and this photo of officers taken by Canadian Press photographer Justin Tang.

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