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Why Police should have said 'We don't know' during the Ottawa shooting chaos

It may seem strange Canadians had to find out the name of the Ottawa shooting suspect from a foreign news agency. Some find it completely incomprehensible that Canadian authorities weren't more forthcoming at a time of crisis, especially when the country's soldiers and equipment are in active service overseas....
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The Current22:00Why the police should have said 'We don't know' during the Ottawa shooting chaos - Oct 24, 2014
It may seem strange Canadians had to find out the name of the Ottawa shooting suspect from a foreign news agency. Some find it completely incomprehensible that Canadian authorities weren't more forthcoming at a time of crisis, especially when the country's soldiers and equipment are in active service overseas.

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RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson, left, and Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau speak about the shooting at the National War Memorial at a press conference in Ottawa Wednesday. (CP/Patrick Doyle)

As you can appreciate when these types of incidents are taking place, they are very fluid, very dynamic. Police officials and law enforcement officials received information from a number of sources, and before we can discount any of that information we have to verify it..Charles Bordeleau, Ottawa Police chief

Ottawa Police chief Charles Bordeleau explaining why police seemed so tight lipped during Wednesday's attack on Parliament Hill. But a number of people are just as unimpressed with that answer as they were with the very few details the police released while the crisis was going on.

Michael Den Tandt is the national political columnist for Postmedia.

Geoff Norquay is a Principal with the Earnscliffe Strategy Group. And In 2004-05 he was director of communications for for then leader of the opposition Stephen Harper.

Joseph Scanlon has spent a career studying crisis communications. He's a professor emeritus at Carleton University's journalism school, and director of the school's Emergency Communications Research Unit.


How do you feel about the communication to the public by the police and RCMP during the Ottawa shootings crisis. Let us know your thoughts.

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This segment was produced by The Current's Howard Goldenthal and Peter Mitton.

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