ESTEVAN — The Estevan board of police commissioners reviewed the Safe Public Spaces (Street Weapons) Act during its Aug. 19 meeting.
Police Chief Jamie Blunden said the document adds another tool for members of the Estevan Police Service, as it addresses possession of knives, illegal narcotics and more.
“Right now, presently, we have a de facto decriminalization because the Crown prosecutors will not prosecute any possession charges,” said Blunden, adding a substantive charge for another offence is needed for a possession charge.
“For us, with this act, it will allow us to seize the drugs, charge under this act, lay a fine, and it will give us more options to deal with it if we want to,” he said.
Estevan doesn’t have the same issues seen in larger cities with weapons like machetes and knives, but Blunden said officers would have legislation at their disposal when encountering them.
Member-at-large Roberta DeRosier asked about uniformity across municipalities. Blunden said each community can create its own bylaw.
“If you wanted to have a bylaw about possession of drugs and just a ticket instead [for punishment], you can create that bylaw,” said Blunden. “But I think what they’ve done is because they recognize that most municipalities, this would be beneficial to them, instead of having each municipality work on something that’s somewhat different than other ones. They’ve created one legislation that’s uniform across the province.”
Coun. Kirsten Walliser asked about knives acceptable in public. Blunden said the length is 30 centimetres, but it could be reduced to 10 cm if desired, or left unenforced — at officers’ discretion.
“There’s also parts of the legislation that allows, for instance, workers that are carrying utility knives and stuff,” Blunden said.
Walliser also raised concerns about the frequent use of the phrase “reasonably demonstrates” in the act, asking whether that creates administrative challenges.
“Does that make this incredibly hard from an administrative perspective? For example, it’s not unlawful to possess fentanyl if you can reasonably demonstrate the person’s possession does not constitute a threat to public safety? That feels rather open-ended to me.”
Blunden replied that “reasonable or probable grounds” are terms officers use regularly, and he believes it will be “easy” for members to exercise their judgment.
“We have supervisors out there that have common sense and can assist with making sure we stay within those parameters to make sure it’s reasonable,” Blunden said.
Deputy Chief Warren Morrical added he doesn’t expect a large volume of offences under the new act.
“It’s a tool for us, for sure, but it’s just an additional tool among the others that we have,” Morrical said.
If the EPS were to lay “dozens and dozens” of charges, Morrical said it might need to reassess the situation, but he does not anticipate that will be necessary.
DeRosier asked if there was anything the EPS would not want included. Blunden replied the service is comfortable with the act’s contents, and most police chiefs support it.
The document will now be forwarded to Estevan city council for approval.
