Bray discusses impact of COVID-19 on Regina Police Service

Regina Police Service Chief Evan Bray has seen first-hand how COVID-19 is affecting residents of the Queen City.

“My wife and I went to Costco,” Bray recalled during a conversation Wednesday on Gormley. “We walk in and we’ve got masks on and there was one gentleman that was in there without a mask on. You could see people literally like the parting of the sea as he walked through the aisles because he wasn’t wearing a mask.

“Who would have thought nine months ago that this would even be an issue? But people are gravitating because they’re anxious.”

The Regina Police Service has been dealing with COVID-related issues since March.

Bray said officers have attended protests about masks, making sure laws aren’t being broken by those opposed to mandatory mask use or those in favour of face coverings.

Police officers also have gone along with representatives of the Saskatchewan Health Authority to make sure that nothing untoward happens when the SHA is issuing tickets for violations of public health orders.

And, Bray said, there have been calls for service from people whom the chief said are simply growing weary of the whole situation.

“While you might see some people getting a bit complacent — not wearing masks in public or those types of things — you’re also seeing people with almost a hypervigilance,” Bray said, noting police have received some interesting calls or messages on social media.

“Someone takes a picture of a person and says, ‘I was in the mall today and this person, I felt like they were getting way too close to me and I was very uncomfortable.’ At the end of the day, that may not be a police matter. This might be just someone who’s in line to get a coffee at Tim Hortons or whatever.”

“I just think anxiety levels are up.”

The impact of COVID-19 also has been felt on the crimes the police are investigating in the city.

Bray said crimes against property — things like thefts, break-and-enters and vehicle thefts — are down by some 4,400 incidents since the same time in 2019.

That’s a decrease of 35 per cent.

“There’s a lot of factors that play into that, but I think a lot of it has to do just with the change in behaviour given COVID,” Bray said.

“People are home more; (they’re) working from home. A lot of times, we’re seeing the break-and-enters (or) the stolen cars happening in conjunction with people going to and from work or not being at home and present during the day.”

Bray said the statistics for crimes against the person are close to last year’s levels — he said they’re down about four per cent — but some remain high.

There have been 11 murders in Regina so far this year; there were six at this time in 2019. Sexual assaults also have increased over last year’s numbers.

Bray said police officers also are being called to more domestic disputes, overdoses and suicides this year.

“Some of our crime stats are down, but that’s not always the true measure of the safety and health of a community,” he said. “I would argue that overdoses and suicides are a crime, a safety and a health problem that police often are called to deal with, so that’s a reality that we’re navigating through for sure.”