Ottawa police stop 24/7 monitoring of checkpoints

Ottawapolice say they will no longer have officers stationed 24/7 at its checkpoints linking the Outaouaisand Ottawa.

The news comes just a day after the new provincial measures began Monday, restrictingonly essentialtravel into Ontariofrom neighbouring provinces. It restrictstravel to those who live or work in Ontario, are entering the province for health-care reasons, Indigenous Treaty Rights, child care or custody matters, transporting goods, or are travelling through the province to go somewhere else.

The Ottawa Police Service said in a news release that starting 8 p.m. Tuesday, it will start rotating its officers on a daily basisat the five interprovincial bridges and two ferries connecting Gatineau, Que., and Ottawa. This will stop after the province's order expires, say police.

Ottawa police cite local public health, traffic and safety impacts discussed with Ottawa Public Health and local stakeholders as the reason for its operational changes.

"The operational changes announced today are designed to better ensure the health and safety of all, to minimize delays and/or hazards for travellers and to ensure essential workers can get to their places of employment on time," the news release states.

Police said officers will only stop private passenger vehicles and not commercial ones, which are exempt from the provincial order. Officers willask for ID and the reason for travel, but drivers aren't required to provide documentation to officers like a note from an employer or a doctor, states the news release.

On Monday morning,long lines of vehicleswaiting tocross the Ottawa River from Gatineau stretched for kilometresas police questioned motorists.Quebec has establishedsimilar checkpoints.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson told CBCMonday that he was never consultedabout the checkpoints, and believes the province should coverthe cost of dozens of police officersneeded to staff them each day.