Nearly 12,000 people live on B.C.’s Salt Spring Island, and while many understand when to call police, others have an interesting interpretation of emergency situations. Salt Spring Island RCMP released its third-quarter report this week, detailing 791 calls it received between July 1 and Sept. 30 — including one concerned with unkind words about a person’s aura and another featuring an aggressive cat. Mounties say they received a report of someone “speaking disparagingly about another person’s aura” in August, and “provided encouragement for the situation to be addressed by the parties involved.” The following month, police were called after a house cat allegedly attacked the foot of a person who was out walking. “The caller was encouraged to discuss the situation with their neighbour; no further police involvement was required,” reads the online summary by SSI RCMP. It only detailed 30 calls received over the 92-day period, most of which were serious in nature. “Other types of files during this period included eight firearms complaints, one sex-related offence and 66 mental-health-related calls,” wrote police. Salt Spring RCMP have responded to a total of 2,133 calls so far in 2023. By comparison, the Vancouver Police Department received 218,447 calls for service in 2022, according to its annual report.
