Posting officer positions is 'problematic,' but is it actually illegal?

Peel Police have a stern message for the public. Don't share videos of officers during an active incident. Canadians have the right that it's constitutionally protected to film on-duty police officers. But that right ends the second it interferes with a police operation or compromises the safety of people involved. Constable Tyler Bell gave the warning a day after a standoff at UTM Monday night, where a 19-year-old man barricaded himself inside a student residence with a gun. The campus was put on lockdown. An officer spent several hours negotiating with the suspect, who eventually died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. During the standoff, there was a flurry of social media posts of officers taking cover, their vehicles and weapons pointed to the building. It's problematic because we don't want anyone to know where the officers are and give up a tactical advantage. This is an active situation. And giving up the position of a police officer in an active incident can compromise their safety or the safety of anybody? It's a no-no. Bell says, while the public has the right to film police, there needs to be a line drawn during serious operations such as this one. A couple of legal experts we spoke to say it's a gray area. The general answer is it's not illegal to film or share the recordings. But there are limits to that. And so... Some of the things that may complicate the answer are things like, was there an ongoing investigation? Will there be evidence that would be recorded, that would be used in a criminal proceeding, and that the integrity of that evidence has to be protected? You would have to intentionally, with a specific intent, to interfere with an investigation, Either by jeopardizing an officer or just letting the bad guys know. What the police are doing, if you intentionally did that, you might fall under the umbrella of that offense, and that's section 129 of the criminal code. He says refusing to comply with police orders could have consequences. That suggests people seek clarity on why police are telling them not to record. But many students say social media was the only way they could stay in the loop about why they needed to shelter in place and what was actually going on. We're just going off of the news and like what's on Instagram, like what has been posted on Instagram so far. I saw one from a window, I think, that was videoing the police. I saw Some of the other posts were just posts about information that was going on or rumors of what could have possibly happened because when it first happened, no one knew what was going on. I feel like more details would have been more helpful, but I kind of understand that they can't really give the full rundown to not cause too much panic, but it still creates a panic if people are just hearing there's a lockdown and people are shooting. It's business as usual on the UTM campus today now that classes have resumed. Meanwhile, police say they're continuing to investigate the circumstances that brought the suspect to the student residences. Isha Bhargava, CBC News, Mississauga.