As most people’s work days were just beginning, emergency personnel were rushing to the scene of another suspicious package call.
On Tuesday, emergency services found themselves at the mercy of yet another call – another package.
It was the fifth in a series of incidents in the last a week-and-a-half, this time at Saskatoon Square located downtown on 22nd Street East.
“Further investigation by our crews sent us to the 12th floor where we have secured an area where a package had been left,” Wayne Rodger, with the Saskatoon Fire Department, said.
READ MORE: Two suspicious package calls in Saskatoon within hours
The response included the isolation of four people in the building, two members of the fire department and a police officer.
Events that have all unfolded in a matter of 12 days across the city.
In order to protect the rest of the city during these incidents, backup is being brought in and the calls come at a cost – $20,000 plus for the one tallied so far.
It’s also “the boy who cried wolf” effect; none of the packages have contained contents dangerous to the public.
“From our perspective, we’re always going to treat it seriously,” Rodger said.
“We can’t relax on our laurels because all it would take is one incident where the product would be deemed hazardous and we wouldn’t want to be caught short.”
Police investigations into each package are ongoing.
They are also looking into whether this recent rash of suspicious deliveries is connected to incidents in November. The woman arrested and charged with 15 offences at that time has since been released from custody.
“We don’t have enough information to create a profile at least in terms of what the emergency services have divulged to the media,” Colleen Bell, a terrorism expert at the University of Saskatchewan, said.
“I don’t see a clear profile emerging at this time.”
READ MORE: Trial date set for woman implicated in Saskatoon suspicious package case
From what Bell has seen so far there is also nothing to suggest these scares are politically motivated.
“The locations that have been chosen, I’m not saying they’re random but I don’t see a clear pattern.”
Drop-off locations have included three downtown buildings, Buena Vista School and the Saskatoon Cancer Centre. According to Bell, without a clear profile it’s hard to say what the perpetrator’s motive might be.
“Which doesn’t mean there aren’t objectives but they could be much more personal than clearly political – they have a grudge, they’re upset about something.”
When asked if media is doing more damage than good by reporting the incidents to the public, Bell noted that given the number of other ways to access information keeping coverage of incidents to a minimum is largely unavoidable.
Comments