Regina’s top cop reflects on 2018

With 2018 quickly waning, Regina Police chief Evan Bray sat down with 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick to talk about his views on the year. The following are edited selections from that interview.

Lisa Schick: Looking back, what were the highlights of 2018 for you?

Evan Bray: 2018 was an extremely busy year, and in some cases I think some of the challenges that we had ended up being some of the best work that we did.

We saw things like the legalization of marijuana, which was a fairly significant topic of discussion for a lot of people. Our police service played a fairly significant role in terms of preparation discussions through the media and social media with the city, and with residents around what is legal, what’s not, what that’s going to look like.

We obviously played a role in some illegal dispensary dismantling that happened in the city, because of the challenges that we were worried that brings to the city. There was going to be — when legalization happened – – an opportunity for dispensaries to set up in a legal fashion. They weren’t, we had quite a number of them in the city.

You know, generally speaking I felt like 2018, although a very busy year was a positive year for us in terms of community engagement — the work that we do there.

But we saw crime stats trending hot, we finished the year with, overall, I’d say our crime rate is up a little bit from where we were in ’17. And ’17 had been a good year, we’d seen some reductions, so we’re back closer to where we were in 2016 in terms of numbers, and really trying to dig in to what those factors are that are driving the crime severity index and the crime rate that we have in the city.

LS: Crime being up a bit, would you say that’s one of the challenges you faced in 2018?

EB: For sure, you know, stolen autos for example, continues to be a very present challenge for us. Our stolen auto numbers in 2018 are up 51, almost 52 per cent from where they were in ’17. That’s significant for us.

And I’ve talked often that it’s, the stolen auto problem isn’t as simple as just youth that are stealing cars and joyriding. We’re seeing people stealing cars and using them in the commission of an offense, we’re seeing them used in the drug trade, with gang activity. Lots of times we’re stopping stolen vehicles where there’s handguns or weapons in the car.

And so that really adds to the challenge and the risk that it poses to the community, and we have to find ways that not only can we safely hold those offenders accountable that have stolen cars or are stealing cars, but find a way to prevent it from happening as well. So we come at it from every angle we can to try and stop the problem.

LS: We’ve been hearing a lot about meth and opioids in Regina, what can you tell me about how that was dealt with this past year?

EB: Meth continues to be a problem in our city, there’s no question about that. Meth is, of all the drugs we see in our community, it’s the one that, I think, really drives our crime rate. It’s very addicting, it’s relatively easy to get in the city, and because of that it’s something that causes us lots of problems.

Our drug unit has done an incredible job this year in cutting off and, in many cases, limiting the supply of drugs coming into our city. The one thing that we are seeing with meth is it’s a fabricated drug so it’s something that you actually make. And yet not a lot of it is being made in Regina, most of it is imported into our city. And our drug unit has had some great success in limiting the supply that’s come into the city.

But, we need to also look at it from the other standpoint as well, which is how do we help those people who are addicted? How do we help those people that are sick, because as long as you have people who are addicted and need the drug, there’s always going to be people finding a way to get it and get the drug into our community.

LS: One thing that Regina police, and you specifically, had to deal with this year was the Justice for Our Stolen Children protest camp in Wascana Park. Looking back at it now, how do you feel about how it was handled?

EB: I was convinced, and we at the police service were convinced, that there was a way that this could be resolved peacefully, a way that it could be resolved with communication and dialogue, and there’s also the ability to go in front of a court and have a judge, and in this case it turned out a (Queen’s Bench) judge was able to give some direction. Interpret everything from the bylaw that was being broken to the Charter Rights of the individuals that were protesting. And, really, I think that helped bring about some resolution.

After that court order came down it really was a phone call or two that were made and there was compliance. I was able to actually be down at the park the day that the last teepee was coming down, (and) had some good dialogue.

Really, our goal through something like that is to ensure that there’s public safety for everyone. And if we ever thought that public safety was at risk, we would have moved in and we would have done whatever we had to do to make sure that people could remain safe, and that includes the protestors that were in the park.

LS: So, would you consider that a learning experience?

EB: Definitely a learning experience, and I would consider it a success. You know, we had a lot of dialogue after that protest was done and talked about the fact that there were no injuries, there was no serious risk that the community or the protest group faced. I think it enhanced communication, it opened dialogue in lots of different ways. It built relationships, and that was an important part of it as well.

So, definitely a learning experience. It’s something that, not only have I learned and our police service learned and taken some things from that, but I think it’s going to inform protests throughout Canada over the years to come. Because every time you have something like that case law is made and some precedents are set and that’s important on how we navigate these issues into the future for sure.