Police chief in London, Ont., vows to catch the 'swatter' targeting Twitch trans activist
Chief Steve Williams says armed response was necessary, given the threat
The police chief in London, Ont., has weighed in again about the controversial arrest of a transgender activist, saying she was a victim of swatting and vowing to find the person responsible for targeting her.
Chief Steve Williams said a criminal investigation is underway into the origins of emails sent to city officials on Aug. 5, prompting "a deliberate attempt by a third part to place suspicion" on Clara Sorrenti.
Sorrenti, 28, is known as Keffals to her large following on the video-streaming platform Twitch.
"As this investigation will be complex, and may potentially involve multiple jurisdictions, it will take some time," Williams wrote in a statement Thursday night.
He confirmed the London Police Service received two calls to 911 on Aug. 5, the first saying Sorrenti was threatening to attend city hall to shoot people.
"A short time later, we received a second 911 call questioning when officers would arrive," the police chief wrote. "Threats of this nature are taken seriously by police, as I believe the public expects they would be."
Days earlier, Sorrenti was contacted by Toronto police, who had also received calls of a similar nature. They determined the activist and social media influencer was being "swatted" by someone calling police with false information with the intention of instigating an arrest.
Sorrenti has said police came to her house a week ago, arrested her at gunpoint and detained her for 11 hours.
The chief acknowledged this caused Sorrenti distress, to have heavily armed officers enter her house. But he added that officers did not force their way into her home — a tactic sometimes called a "dynamic entry" — and insists they knocked on the door.
He said Sorrenti was co-operative, but was arrested for uttering threats based on information police had at that time.
Williams also addressed the criticism that police used the name and gender assigned to Sorrenti at birth during her arrest, referred to as a "dead name" by trans people. Sorrenti has told CBC News she has not used the name and gender for more than a decade.
"While I cannot confirm any conversations which might have transpired during Ms. Sorrenti's initial arrest, activity in our holding cells is monitored by audio and video equipment. At no time while she was in our holding cells did members of our police service address Ms. Sorrenti by her dead name and gender," Williams said.
Bags that held her belongings while she was in custody were labelled with her former name, which Williams said was in the system as a result of previous police reports.
Williams said he has reached out to Sorrenti to discuss the incident and made her aware of how she can file a complaint, if she wants to.
The chief's statement still falls short because he has not apologized to members of the LGBTQ community.- Christa Duvall, PFLAG London
Sorrenti has not responded to CBC's request for comment about this latest police statement.
In her online posts linked to a fundraiser, she says she has enough money to move to a safe location, but is looking at a legal fund "to protect myself against ongoing and future threats to my safety." She has raised $86,000 in three days.
The attention surrounding the case has some members of the LGBTQ community in London reflecting on their interactions with police.
"The chief's statement still falls short because he has not apologized to members of the LGBTQ community," Christa Duvall, director of PFLAG London, said Thursday.
"He mentioned that he's going to come up with a way to make sure this doesn't happen in the future, but people are looking for something a little more concrete."
CBC London has asked city police for details on its policies and training for officers interacting with the LGBTQ community. A spokesperson said the information was not available unless CBC filed a freedom of information request, which it has done.
Toronto police say its members have been taking mandatory gender-diverse trans inclusion training for the past year, and it's ongoing. The service also made its LBTQ liaison available for interviews.