Halifax police mum on incident, but residents say someone climbed electrical tower

HALIFAX -- First there was a power blackout, and now there is an information blackout, after more than 19,000 homes and businesses in Halifax were left without power Monday night after emergency officials asked Nova Scotia Power to shut it off.

Halifax Regional Police were called to a transmission tower in the area of Harbourview Drive at 6:40 p.m. Monday.

But police claim privacy concerns prevent them from saying what they were doing.

Residents in the area who saw the whole thing say police were called after someone was seen at the top of the tower.

Halifax police are saying little else.

"Often our officers are called to conduct very visible activities in relation to private and sensitive situations and this was the case in this particular incident last night," said Halifax Regional Police spokesman Const. John MacLeod.

It was a harrowing situation that neighbours say made them grateful for the quick response.

The city councillor for the area, Waye Mason, tweeted early Tuesday to encourage anyone upset by the situation to contact local help lines.

I have been hearing that some residents are disturbed by what they witnessed on Harbourview last night. It is important to get help if you need it. There number of places that can help if you need someone to talk to or are facing a crisis:

— Waye Mason (@WayeMason) October 29, 2019

However, Mason also declined to comment.

Police say they want everyone in the area to know they were not at risk.

"Certainly when they see us in any type of scale, there is concern there would be risk to public safety, which is why we felt last night that it was important to get that message out, that there was no risk to public safety," MacLeod said.

While there was no risk to public safety, there is no information for the public either.

Nova Scotia Power also declined to comment, other than to say the request to cut power to the transmission tower was made by emergency response crews.

Some businesses had to close early, while the Victoria General Hospital and Nova Scotia Legislature had to switch to backup generators.

Roads in the neighbourhood were also shut down for a few hours as officials asked people to stay away.

Any potential motive for scaling a 38-metre tower also isn't being made public.

Police won't say much else, other than the fact that no charges will be laid.

"At the end of the day we are obliged to protect a person's individual right to privacy, especially in sensitive incidents like this," MacLeod said.

With power restored, the neighbourhood seemed back to normal Tuesday, although some residents are still shaken after seeing the kind of police response they don't typically see in what is otherwise a quiet neighbourhood.

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  Residents in the area of Harbourview Drive in Halifax say police were called after someone was seen at the top of this electrical tower.