Concerns in COVID-19 calls often unfounded, Regina police chief says after 322 reports lead to 27 tickets

Regina's police chief says there are good reasons for a dramatic discrepancy in the number of calls police get related to pandemic restrictions and the number of tickets issued.

From January to March 2021, there were a total of 322 calls to city police related to COVID-19 restrictions, according to a Regina Police Service report presented Tuesday to the Board of Commissioners.

In that same time frame, 27 COVID-19 tickets were issued for either gatherings that violate public health orders or for breaching self-isolation orders. 

The monthly breakdown is as follows:

• January: 139 COVID-19 calls, 11 tickets. 
• February: 108 COVID-19 calls, eight tickets.
• March: 75 COVID-19 calls, eight tickets.

Regina police Chief Evan Bray says the discrepancy between calls and tickets comes down to neighbours calling about presumed violations that don't always require enforcement. 

"We're finding we get a high number of calls with concerns, and when we get there, either the big concern is not substantiated there or not founded," Bray said during a Board of Police Commissioners meeting on Tuesday. 

A lot of calls are about kids playing in parks, Bray said. He said police may find 14 children on swings and a play structure, for example, but that doesn't call for enforcement. The officers will instead have conversations about masking and physical distancing with parents, Bray said. 

Current public health orders in the province restrict outdoor gatherings to a maximum of 10 people.

Another example Bray gave involved people who gathered without intending for it to happen. In that case, police were called after friends happened to meet outside a business and started visiting with each other.

"One of them wasn't wearing a mask. However, they were distanced in a way that we felt that wasn't a breach of the order," Bray said. 

Just as the police don't ticket every noisy party, police don't issue a ticket in every COVID-19 call, he said. 

"A lot of the calls that we go to end up not being something that we would write a ticket for as it wasn't a violation. Some of the ones that we do go to, we may be able to use discretion."

Other times it's very evident that people are purposefully defying the order, such as by advertising an anti-mask event on social media, Bray said.

In those cases where it's clear there is intentional defiance of public health orders, officers may choose to ticket organizers, he said.