Saskatoon police chief says bear spray incidents declining

Saskatoon’s city council recently approved a new bylaw aiming to reduce the number of criminal incidents involving bear spray, and the city’s police chief says there’s been a drop even before the new rules take effect.

Saskatoon Police Chief Cameron McBride said he’s noticed the number of criminal incidents involving bear spray have been trending downward.

Read more:

• Police chief discusses recent crimes, bear spray bylaws and more on Evan Bray Show
• Saskatoon council approves proposed bylaw changes to the sale of bear spray
• Saskatoon police responded to 10 bear spray incidents over long weekend

“We are definitely seeing, recently anyways, a reduction in bear spray use in the community, and we’re just going to keep at it and we’re going to be diligent to eliminate it from our streets as much as we can,” McBride said during an interview on the Evan Bray Show this week.

The new bylaw, McBride explained, includes age restrictions for the purchase of bear spray, identification requirements and better measures to track bear spray by the serial numbers marked on each canister.

Meanwhile, he added, police officers have been working hard to lay charges in any cases involving bear spray.

“We’ve actually implemented a very dedicated process of following, tracking individuals who are using bear spray in the community, so that when they’re released from court and they have conditions placed upon them, we’re all over it,” the police chief added.

Listen to the interview with Evan Bray

According to data shared with 650 CKOM by the Saskatoon Police Service, 258 bear spray incidents have been logged between the start of the year and June 28, which works out to an average of 9.92 incidents per week.

But during the week starting on June 8, there were just five incidents. The following week (June 15-21), the city saw no criminal incidents involving bear spray, marking the only time that a week has gone by with no incidents since the start of the year. Four incidents involving bear spray were recorded by police during the week of June 22-28, though a police spokesperson noted that the numbers for that week are still preliminary.

The police force’s busiest time for bear spray calls came during the week starting May 11, when officers responded to 19 separate bear spray incidents.

While a police spokesperson cautioned against reading too much into the numbers, which might indicate an anomaly rather than a real trend, McBride said he feels that that his officers are “making some really good headway” with their proactive efforts.

The police service noted that officers are already visiting retailers who sell bear spray to ensure they’re informed about the new rules ahead of the bylaw coming into effect.

McBride said some corner stores in the city have begun to sell bear spray, which is “something that (police) really do not like.”

“We see it being sold in some of our more vulnerable neighborhoods, and we just have to be on those suppliers, making sure that we’re holding them accountable and even charging them where necessary if they’re not following the bylaw as it comes into force,” McBride said.

But, McBride noted, there are still ways for bear spray to fall into the wrong hands, as the spray can be legally purchased online.