'Business as usual,' acting chief says as Regina police board meets for 1st time since chief's suspension
More than 1,000 photo radar tickets handed out in March
Regina's Board of Police Commissioners discussed the city's latest crime data Tuesday at its first meeting since the Regina Police Service (RPS) chief was suspended.
Chief Farooq Sheikh was suspended from duty on April 4 after a complaint was made by a member of the public. Acting Chief Lorilee Davies stayed tight-lipped on the status of the related investigation when asked on Tuesday, but said the force is still dedicated to community safety in his absence.
"I think anytime that there is, you know, sort of uncertainty, it does create concern within your organization, but we've certainly done our best to say, 'hey, it's business as usual. We have a job to do for our community,'" Davies said on Tuesday after the board meeting.
The board looked at the latest crime data, covering the month of March, in the meeting.
For year-to-date numbers, the RPS report detailed a 15.9 per cent decrease in crimes against people and a 5.2 per cent decrease in property crime in the first three months of 2025, compared to the same period in 2024.
For March alone, there was a slight increase in total crimes against people and property.
There were 49 arsons in the city in March. The largest proportion of those were bin fires — with 22 this year compared to 15 in March 2024. Meanwhile, structure fires decreased to 11 from 15.
Break and enters saw a slight decrease overall this March, aside from businesses, which saw a small increase to 11 from eight.
There were no homicides in March in either year, but attempted murders increased to four from two and sexual assaults went up to 32 from 19.
Assaults decreased slightly this March compared to last, but decreased more significantly (about 34 per cent) in the year-to-date data.
The number of photo radar tickets issued increased to 1,032 this March from 969, with about 73 per cent coming from school zones. The year-to-date data shows 714 more photo radar tickets in comparison to 2024.
The local police plane logged 148 hours in the first three months of this year. In that time, RPS says it responded to 295 calls, recovered one stolen vehicle and led to 73 people being charged..
The leading type of call for service for the police plane is suspicious vehicles.