Regina police start ticketing 'unwanted guests' downtown
5,600 calls about harassment, drunkenness, shoplifting in past 2 years
Business owners in Regina say they're having problems with drunks, shoplifters and other "unwanted guests" who get kicked out and keep coming back.
But the city police say they have a plan to deal with the issue and it was on the agenda at the Regina Board of Police Commissioners meeting Wednesday.
'There was frustration by both business owners and police officers in relation to dealing with unwanted guests.- Regina Police Service
In a report, Police Chief Troy Hagen said the service has dealt with more than 5,600 calls in the downtown area in the past two years about fights, intoxicated people, suspicious persons, people harassing customers and shoplifters.
"There was frustration by both business owners and police officers in relation to dealing with unwanted guests," the report said. "There didn't seem to be a way to deal with repeat, problem persons in the downtown area."
At one point, the city had legislation called the Tag Day Bylaw that was used to deal with aggressive panhandlers. However, the bylaw was deemed unconstitutional and was repealed in 2009.
For a few years after that, police used the "assault by trespass" section of the Criminal Code to deal with problem people in businesses, but the federal government repealed that section in 2012.
Now, police say they are using provincial legislation, the Trespass to Property Act, to deal with unwanted guests.
That law lets police issue tickets if somebody has been banned from a store but keeps coming back. That's exactly what police have been doing in recent weeks.
Police say they're working with the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District to spread the word about the initiative.