Police resources in Regina are being taxed by three new homicide investigations as the ongoing labour dispute at the Co-op Refinery continues to require officers’ attention.
“Operationally, it’s just been a feverish pitch,” Regina Police Service Chief Evan Bray told reporters Tuesday morning following a Board of Police Commissioners meeting. “We’ve brought in investigators from all corners of the service.”
At the same time, police continue to monitor the situation at the picket line, which has escalated to require police intervention on more than one occasion.
“It’s very, very frustrating,” Bray said. “If I’m being honest, it’s a distraction away from what I think we should be focusing on.”
Two men were killed in separate incidents on Friday.
In the early hours of the morning, police responded to a report of a critically injured 23-year-old man, who died a short time after. A 17-year-old youth is charged with second-degree murder.
That same day in the afternoon, during a property check, police found a critically injured 49-year-old man while doing a property check. His death has been deemed a homicide. An arrest has yet to be made.
Saturday evening, a 24-year-old man was killed. A 25-year-old man is charged with first-degree murder.
The homicides are unrelated, said the chief, aside from the fact that drugs, alcohol and weapons appear to have played a role.
“There are weapons present constantly now, not only in vehicles and in homes, but on people,” Bray said. “When you have that kind of spark that happens – people aren’t making good decisions because they’re under the influence of drugs and alcohol – they have a weapon on their hip or in their pants and the ability for them to use it quickly has dire consequences and that’s really what we’re seeing here.
“We’re working at this from a bunch of different angles to try and dig into these challenges that we’ve had in the community.”
Last year, there were nine homicides in Regina. These three new cases, in addition to one earlier in the month,
On multiple occasions, the chief has noted the strain on officers caused by the police force’s growing and changing workload – a point he reiterated Tuesday while talking not only about the city’s three latest homicides, but also the messy labour dispute at the refinery.
Unifor Local 594 members have been locked out for nearly two months now. Their counterparts from around the country began joining them a few weeks ago. Last week, as picketers began setting up metal fences at the entrances to stop vehicles from going in and out (despite a court order proclaiming that they should be allowed to pass), the organization’s national president was arrested along with 13 other picketers.
“We have daily officers who are assigned to and involved in not only being out there and being present out there,” Bray said, referring to the refinery. “There’s a lot of background investigative work that is going on right now to really help develop the plan and what our next steps are going to be.
“It’s absolutely taxing of resources,” he said, noting there are other more critical issues on which police need to be focusing right now.
For example, the Regina Police Service responded to 98 calls for service between 7 p.m. Monday to 7 a.m. Tuesday. Of those calls four were related to firearms, say police.
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