'The magnitude of the crowd is very concerning' Police Chief Larkin said

Waterloo Regional Police have released numbers from the annual unsanctioned St. Patrick’s Day party on Ezra Avenue in Waterloo.

They estimate 33,000 people attended. Police are basing that number on the day's busiest time.

Officers laid over 500 charges. A majority of those, 376, fell under the Liquor Licence Act. In addition, special constables at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo issued 40 tickets for alcohol-related offences.

Here's a breakdown of the other charges laid by police:

110 - Highway Traffic Act

16 - bylaw

six - Criminal Code

two - Trespass to Property Act

two - Cannabis Act

one - Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

In total, 18 people were arrested.

The number of charges laid was also up from 495 in 2018.

"But our biggest issue around the crowd is the density ... when the density becomes that thick ... you'll note that obviously created some challenges from a police perspective, but also from a paramedic perspective, getting set up ... The feedback from our frontline was that the density made it very difficult to make their way through the crowd," Waterloo Regional Police Chief, Bryan Larkin told the media following Wednesday's police services board meeting.

"The magnitude of the crowd is very concerning. It's moving this and morphing it into a very dangerous event," he added. "Our biggest concern is when you get a significant density in the crowd, you actually start to lose track or the ability to police the event,"

Larkin says another area of concern being this is the first time they experienced projectiles being tossed, as well as fist fights that broke out within the crowd.

Region of Waterloo Paramedic Services also saw an increased demand for service. They received 80 calls, with 52 people being transported by ambulance to hospital.

Almost 60 patients turned up at the emergency department at Grand River Hospital as well, while St. Mary's General Hospital received 19 patients from the Ezra area between 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Most of the patients required treatment for consuming too much alcohol, head injuries, lacerations, falls and fractures.

Waterloo mayor Dave Jaworsky spoke with one partygoer, who described the setting as being in a fast-moving stream - even if you saw people, you couldn't physically make it over to say hi to them. "The situation in itself, it's not safe. Just because everybody went to the beach and nobody drown that doesn't mean it's safe, it meant we got lucky." he told The Mike Farwell Show on 570 NEWS.

A multi-agency task force was launched last year to look into large unsanctioned public events and to find solutions. You can submit feedback here.