Regina police chief speaks about group calls, overdoses in the city

Regina’s police chief shed some light on how things have been going in the city during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Evan Bray spoke on the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Monday and said the Regina Police Service has received a lot of calls about gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“A lot of people are concerned when they see gatherings of people but a lot of people are calling when they see a gathering starting to develop and oftentimes we will get there and there will be four or five people,” Bray said. “Sometimes it’s people that just (happen to) meet in the park — they’ll stop and chat for a second and then carry on — versus an organized game of football or something like that.

“We are getting a large amount of those calls. I’m not going to say don’t call it in. (Instead) take a second or two and watch what’s developing before you call because there’s many times we’re getting there and it’s not a large group or it has dispersed already.”

Bray said police haven’t handed out many fines due to gatherings, noting many gatherings currently haven’t been planned ones and don’t last long.

While it seems like many things have shut down due to the pandemic, crime hasn’t taken a break.

Bray said there has been an increase in crimes against people, such as assaults and attempted murders. But crimes against property has gone down.

Police also continue to deal with a large number of overdoses taking place.

There have been more than 260 incidents in 2020 so far with 11 deaths and police administering Narcan 24 times.

“This is a big problem in our city,” Bray said. “A lot of enforcement work has been done throughout the year but even over the last week, we’ve been doing constant enforcement work on trying to limit the amount of drugs coming into the city (and we) try to hold those accountable that are selling drugs.

“But as you’ve heard me say before, as long as you have a large number of people with an addiction, they’re always going to be looking for new ways to get that drug and get that high.”