REGINA — Regina Police Service members were involved in more pursuits in 2021, and there have been more situations of people evading police.
Those were the findings from the Pursuit Review Board report for 2021 presented to the Regina Board of Police Commissioners on Tuesday.
S/Sgt. Kelly Campbell of Investigation Services Division presented the facts and figures at the meeting at Regina police headquarters.
According to those numbers, in 2021, RPS members were involved in 35 incidents deemed “pursuits” as defined in the Regina Police Service policy manual. This was an increase from the 22 pursuits the previous year in 2020. It is also up from 27 in 2019, but lower than the 46 reported in 2018.
The breakdown of the 35 pursuits is as follows: five were classified as Level 1 pursuits – pursuits that adhered to policy; there were 30 Level 2 pursuits – pursuits that deviated from policy with just cause.
There were no Level 3 pursuits (deviation from policy with no cause) and no Level 4 pursuits that may constitute breach of criminal code or police act.
In addition, Regina police were involved in 468 evade police files from 2021. That compares to 316 in 2020 and 239 in 2019.
These are situations where an officer attempts to conduct a vehicle stop on a person suspected of violating the Traffic Safety Act and / or the criminal code, and the driver chooses not to stop.
The increase in pursuits in 2021 is likely related to the 59 per cent increase in evade police incidents from 2020 to 2021, Campbell told the board. COVID-19 may be a contributing factor in the numbers as well.
Finally, in 2021, RPS members deployed a tire deflation device 64 times. Of the deployments, 29 were related to pursuit incidents.
Regina Police Chief Evan Bray characterized the 468 “evade police” incidents as “a big number. It’s a large number of people that are saying ‘no, we’re not stopping.’”
At to the 35 pursuits, “That’s a low number. That shows me in our service that our officers understand the severity of a pursuit, the danger that it provides to a community and the need to only pursue if circumstances are such that there are continued risks to the community if we let people go.”
As for why the evades are happening, Bray suggested to the board that Regina’s challenges with drugs and with firearms were a big reason behind it.
“People aren’t stopping for a reason. There’s a reason they don’t want to stop. They’re wanted, they’ve got something in the car that they don’t want discovered, they’re high, they’re intoxicated, there’s a variety of things that could cause that. There’s a danger to the community in that vehicle that is not stopping for police. In some form there is.”
Bray said their policy gives them lots of different ways to follow up and hold those individuals accountable without chasing them at high speeds.
Also, he spoke of the deployment of an aerial support unit in the coming months, which is expected to reduce the risk involved in pursuits, and help hold offenders accountable.
Bray said the aerial support unit will be a “game changer.” The air support unit will be able to take over from police vehicles on the ground by spotting a vehicle from the air, watching the vehicle as it pulls up to a driveway, and then officers can go in and make the arrest.
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