Police chief talks crime rates, biometric monitoring on Evan Bray Show

June saw several types of crimes decrease in Regina when compared to last year.

That’s according to Regina Police Chief Farooq Sheikh, who joined the Evan Bray Show on Wednesday. During the chat with his predecessor, Sheikh said crimes against persons – which include assault, robbery and murder – decreased by 13.2 per cent when compared to June, 2023.

Sheikh said the decline “is positive news for me, because any decrease is positive.”

He said June saw a 13.1 per cent decrease in robberies, a 13.2 per cent decrease in thefts under $5,000, and a 9.8 per cent decrease in break and enter reports.

Listen to the full interview with Sheikh on The Evan Bray Show:

Sheikh said arson is the only area that saw an increase in June.

“Going back two months ago, we had a significant increase. We got up to 69 per cent year-to-date increase, but I’m really happy to say that (we’re) clawing that back” Sheikh said.

“Still a 38 per cent increase compared to last year, but we’ve had some significant arrests.”

The police chief said officers worked closely with the fire department and other agencies, and has arrested some “key offenders” who were committing arson.

“Arson’s the only one that really caused me a bit of concern, but not as much concern as it did two months ago because we brought it down from 69 per cent year-to-date to 38 per cent, so I’m confident each month we’re going to start to bring it down again,” he said.

Sheikh said Regina Police Service has been working with the city and Regina Fire, as most of the reported arson cases have involved trash bins. He said he wants to ensure the bins get emptied sooner so they don’t overflow.

Alternate response officers

The Regina Police Service is adding six alternate response officers to the force to patrol downtown, starting in October.

The special constables are expected to work with police officers to deliver public safety programming in situations where armed officers aren’t required.

Sheikh said the alternate response officers won’t have all the same powers as a police officer, but will still have many.

Sheikh said he worked with a similar unit in England.

“I can say, from my experience and from research across Canada, that it really complements the police. It takes away some of the work from the police that free up the police to do other stuff, and at the same time it helps reduce crime, increase trust and confidence, and just keep people safe,” he said.

Currently, he said, the police service is trying to see if it can establish a base for the alternate response officers in the Cornwall Centre.

Biometric monitoring system

Earlier this year, Regina police started using a biometric monitoring system to examine the health of detainees in their cells.

The system allows officers to look at health data in real-time, including things like heart rate and respiratory rate.

The Regina Police Service became one of the first police forces in the country to use the technology, which was implemented following the death of a prisoner last year.

“What we looked at and what the staff looked at is how can we do our utmost to prevent any death in custody?” the police chief explained.

Sheikh said Staff Sergeant Pierre Beauchesne, who was in charge of implementing the program, searched across Canada and the United States before he found an American company that offered the biometric service.

“That started the 19th of September, and I’m really happy to say that between that time and now, we’ve proactively saved the lives of three people by intervention that we wouldn’t have picked up on our normal cell checks,” Sheikh said.

“It’s been a real positive, and it’s been a great initiative for us by Pierre, and a lot of police services around Canada are touching base with us now to see if they can adopt similar things as well.”