Sarah Mills: Does this Canada Day feel different due to 'elbows up' attitude?
Does Canada Day feel different this year? Sarah Mills says we should be cheering harder for Canada than ever due to our ...
The snow has melted and that means warmer temperatures are starting to settle over Regina.
For some, it’s an opportunity to get outside more often and for others, it’s a chance to get their fancy vehicles out and take them for a spin around city streets.
While it’s good news people are getting outside and have spring fever, Regina Police Chief Evan Bray says police are starting to notice a trend which is frustrating them.
That trend is people — mostly teenagers — gathering in a parking lot on Chuka Boulevard late at night on Regina’s eastside, creating problems and causing frustration for some in that area.
“It’s so frustrating,” Bray said Tuesday when asked about the situation. “The weather is turning nice, people are wanting to be outside and wanting to enjoy the community, and it drives us crazy with the amount of challenges we have with people who feel the need to cause problems through excessive noise with vehicles, speeding and even just people congregating.”
Bray said the problem is not so much with people congregating, it’s how they’re causing problems and annoying others who are trying to go about their day.
“At the end of the day, kids getting together and having conversations and visiting with friends sounds innocuous,” he explained. “But when you get a group of kids who are causing problems, harassing customers trying to use businesses, littering on the ground, causing excessive noise at late hours of the night, that’s a problem and that’s something we’re going to be dealing with and have been dealing with.”
Regina police notified the public about the actions of some on social media earlier this week.
Attn; Regina Parents; RPS traffic teams are aware of Chuka Blvd strip mall issues (usually youths) and have already begun enforcement a couple nights ago. P.S. msg for parents, as a lot of vehs appear to be registered to mom or dad. Thx 🙏 @reginapolice pic.twitter.com/SaJKnimmZo
— Cst. Jim Monaghan 647 (@RPSTrafficUnit) April 24, 2023
Bray does note it’s not just that one part of the city seeing these types of problems; he says it’s other places as well.
“We’re hearing it in the northwest (and) Harbour Landing. It’s prevalent in all areas of the city,” he stated.
While he says police will continue to enforce the law and crack down on those creating problems for others, Bray says even with all the enforcement in the world, police need help from others in order to get rid of the issue.
“It’s not just limited to teens, but predominately some of these issues we’ve been dealing with lately are tied to teens,” he said. “Teens have parents, teens have caregivers who know they’re out and have their vehicle out — in many cases it’s Mom and Dad’s vehicles they’re driving — so we need conversations to be happening at home. We need some accountability there as well because this is a big problem.
“I’m hearing it from citizens (and) city councillors. We’re hearing it from all ends of the city.”
Bray adds it’s not something they’ll just solve by sending police out night after night. At the end of the day, he just wants people to think of others.
“We were all kids once, but at the end of the day, getting together having a Slurpee with friends, no problem. But if it’s late at night, let’s just limit the noise,” he explained. “We can’t keep sending police resources to that because as you know we’re a busy organization and have a lot of complex needs in our city.”
