Drug addictions are fuelling property crimes: Regina police chief

Regina Police Chief Evan Bray says drugs like meth, cocaine and fentanyl are still feeding crime in the city.

He says officers have done a good job of laying charges and taking drugs off the street, but the problem isn’t going anywhere because people are still addicted to the drugs.

“People can solve one side of it, from an enforcement standpoint. But an addiction isn’t going to be solved with handcuffs,” Bray said Wednesday.

He delivered his comments at the city’s monthly Board of Police Commissioners meeting.

“Drugs are a constant problem. They’re probably the No. 1 driver of violent or high-risk crime in the city,” he said. “It’s predominantly meth and cocaine … Meth continues to drive the crime.”

Bray explained that drug addictions tend to fuel crimes against property, like thefts of motor vehicles or thefts from motor vehicles.

Overall, crimes against property are up 10.8 per cent this year compared to the first 10 months of 2018.

For example, break-and-enters to businesses are up 20.4 per cent in the same time period. Thefts of motor vehicles under $5,000 are up 16.3 per cent, while thefts of motor vehicles over $5,000 are up 5.3 per cent.

But numbers in all of the mentioned categories are down slightly when comparing only October this year to October in 2018.

Regardless of officers’ success arresting and prosecuting offenders, Bray said those suffering from drug addictions need support to get sober.

“The challenge will continue as long as we have people who are addicted …,” he said. “People are going to do desperate things to fuel that addiction.

“We really need to work collaboratively with health (workers) … (Sobering up) reduces all exposure to crime once we can dig into that important issue.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Joseph Ho