It’s been nearly a year since the City of Regina opted into a new program aimed at taking a proactive, rather than reactionary approach, when it comes to seizing dangerous items. The Street Weapons Act, also known as the Safe Public Spaces Act, allows officers to seize items in public urban areas that can be deemed a threat to public safety. The act includes a wide range of items in the category of street weapons and illicit substances, including: During Tuesday’s Board of Police Commissioners Meeting, Regina Police Service (RPS) Chief Lorilee Davies outlined what changes have occurred and how many charges have been laid since the act was introduced. In the year since Regina passed the bylaw to opt into the provincial legislation, there have been 20 charges and 23 seizures, with 18 for possession of a street weapon in a public urban place and two for possession of a street weapon that was defaced or altered. Davies noted the latter two were specifically in relation to bear spray. “Oftentimes if the label is scraped off, to try and say, ‘Oh, it’s not bear spray,’ that’s actually an offence under the act,” she said. Of the 23 weapons seized, there were 10 cans of bear spray, four machetes, three knives, two seizures of pills believed to be fentanyl, a pellet gun, a baton, a taser and brass knuckles. “That’s certainly an appropriate usage of this legislation and the seizing of these street weapons,” Davies said. Breaking down the 20 charges by district, 15 were in the central district, four in the north and one in the south. Davies noted 11 charges were made by alternative response officers, and nine by sworn officers. Of the 20 charges, 14 were adults and six were youth. “To sum it up, not a lot of charges and seizures under the act, but it is another tool in the toolbox for our officers to use,” Davies said. Davies said the focus is essentially getting dangerous weapons and items off the streets. “For our alternative response officers, they work in the downtown primarily. They’re seeing lots of folks who might be vulnerable, who might have weapons on them that aren’t being used in any way. But for us to be able to take them out of the community is certainly a good thing in terms of potential victimization down the road,” the chief added. “In review of the files, what we’re seeing is what we had expected – that these aren’t weapons that are being used in the commission of an offence, but certainly they’re just being taken off the street in order to prevent incidents from occurring.” Davies spoke on how the interactions would have been treated prior to the passing of the act. “They could be proceeded with a criminal code offence of carrying a weapon for a dangerous purpose, gone through the courts. That’s not always the appropriate punishment or penalty. I think that this is reducing criminalization, but we’re still having an impact on safety in the community.” As most of the seized items under the act were bear spray, Davies suggests more attention could be directed towards regulation on the sellers of animal control products. “We’ve pushed for sellers to have to keep in-depth records about folks who are buying bear spray, keeping serial numbers, keeping track of it, asking for ID,” Davies said. “It’s not something that’s happened as of yet, but certainly something we are keeping an eye on and monitoring and can lobby if we see that’s the issue.” It’s an idea that stuck with Regina Mayor Chad Bachynski. “You know what I did hear today is there’s maybe some efforts that can be taken in terms of discussions whether it’s lobbying for different legislation changes to potentially make it harder to purchase, or more data collected to keep track of bear spray,” he said. For now, RPS says its officers will continue to seize bear spray and other street weapons proactively through the Safe Public Spaces Act and provide annual reports.
