‘Our hands are tied’: RPS acting chief talks about kids committing crimes after recent spree

A recent string of crimes in Regina had raised the question for many: what are children doing out committing crimes?

Earlier this month, police put out a news release about a string of thefts they’d been investigating where people’s belongings were stolen from two recreational centres in Regina – the Lawson Aquatic Centre and REAL District – and people’s vehicles had then been stolen.

In one case that led to joyriding in the city, reaching upwards of 170 km/h at some points. And in the other, the stolen vehicle left the city and police believe the criminals broke into and stole from businesses in Melville and Balgonie.

Police believe there were nine suspects involved, ranging in age from nine to 13 – a 13-year-old boy having been arrested and charged by RCMP after a traffic stop.

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In Canada, the minimum age a person must be to be charged with a crime is 12 years old.

When they’re under that age, Acting Regina Police Chief Lorilee Davies told Tamara Cherry, guest host for the Evan Bray Show, the police can’t do anything more under the criminal code.

Listen here to the full interview with Lorilee Davies:

“We’re able to catch the people responsible, but then our hands are tied because they are too young for us to do what we would normally do, which would be arrest and charge,” said Davies.

“It’s obviously frustrating for officers on the scene to be in a situation like that, but it just begs the larger question, how do 9, 10, 11, 12-year-olds find themselves in these situations where they are putting so many people in danger?”

For many parents, Davies said it would be unthinkable for their nine-year-old to be out stealing cars, but she said there are many families in Regina where they’ve experienced trauma, there are a lot of things on the go, and the children don’t have good supervision.

She said, when someone under 12 is caught committing a crime, police can either bring them back to their parents or to someone in place of a parent – sometimes that could mean Mobile Crisis Services.

Davies says the police work closely with child and family services and social services. There’s also The Regina Intersectional Partnership (TRIP), which is the police working with justice, health, social services and both school boards in the city.

“It’s really collaboratively working together with kids who are at an acutely elevated risk, which I would suggest these kids certainly would be, and then figure out what we could do to offer them services, their family services, (where) have they fallen through the cracks in certain areas and how can we work to build that social safety net back up,” explained Davies.

When small kids find themselves in the middle of crime, Davies said it needs to be all hands on deck.

“If we can’t intervene and help these kids now and get them down a better path and, you know, then there’s certainly only tragedy ahead,” she said.

Police in Regina are still warning people at the city’s rec centres to be particularly diligent about keeping their things safe, as they have been getting more reports of thefts. The thefts have been from unlocked lockers, and Davies said people want to make sure they’re locking up their belongings and not leaving their things out.

“I know that that is crappy to tell people you need to make yourself less of a victim, but the reality in this situation is that if these kids don’t have access to keys, then they’re not stealing those vehicles,” said Davies.