What started as a routine patrol for the Meadow Lake RCMP Crime Reduction Team (CRT) escalated into a dangerous situation for police officers following an attempted traffic stop on March 18.
When Meadow Lake RCMP Crime Reduction Team (CRT) tried to stop a vehicle on Highway 2, the driver fled at a high rate of speed. Officers followed but didn’t pursue the vehicle due to the public safety risk when the vehicle entered a residential area.
Officers from the La Ronge RCMP Detachment and La Ronge RCMP CRT were mobilized to help Meadow Lake RCMP CRT search for the vehicle. CRT units have the ability to react fast. They perform proactive and reactive policing through targeted enforcement, or “hot spotting,” based on crime trend analysis and intelligence.
Meadow Lake RCMP CRT found the vehicle parked in a driveway on Jimmy Roberts Road. Officers surrounded it and told the driver he was under arrest. The suspect drove directly towards an officer, who was on foot, at a high rate of speed. The officer had to quickly move aside to avoid being struck.
Given the escalated risk, officers pursued the vehicle.
During the pursuit, the driver of the vehicle abruptly did a U-turn and drove head-on towards a police vehicle. The officer driving it had to swerve to avoid a collision.
Through a collaborative operation, police pinned in the vehicle. The suspect, Jade Napope, 37, of La Ronge, continued to rev the vehicle’s engine trying to free his vehicle. He resisted arrest but was arrested without further incident.
“This was an incredibly dangerous situation,” said S/Sgt. Ryan How, north district manager for Saskatchewan RCMP’s Saskatchewan Enforcement Response Team.
“It’s very fortunate that no one – including police officers, members of the public, or the suspect himself – was hurt. That’s very much thanks to the quick thinking and collaboration of all the responding Saskatchewan RCMP officers. It’s an unfortunate reality that our officers have to be ever-ready to evade deliberate attempts to harm them while they work to uphold community safety.”
Police determined Napope was on a 24-hour curfew under March 11 release conditions. The release order was in relation to charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
During a search of Napope and the vehicle, police seized about 26 grams of cocaine, 1.6 grams of methamphetamine, three grams of cannabis, two pharmaceutical-style pills, a knife, trafficking paraphernalia, and a sum of cash.
Napope was charged with two counts possession for the purpose of trafficking, failing to stop for a peace officer, assaulting a police officer with a weapon, dangerous driving, resisting arrest, mischief under $5,000, two counts of possession of the proceeds of crime under $5,000, and four counts of failing to comply with release order conditions.
Napope was remanded in custody and appears in La Ronge Provincial Court April 8.
Proactively, the RCMP CRT members track chronic offenders, combat street-gang activity, and make arrests.
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