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RCMP and mayor say police resources not an issue

Oct 23, 2017 | 3:04 PM

In the wake of Saturday’s fatal RCMP shooting in North Battleford, local officials say police resources are not an issue and residents need not worry about their safety.

On Saturday night, an Onion Lake man was shot and killed following an altercation with the RCMP on 15 Avenue near 105 Street. The RCMP had been following the vehicle, after another individual reported shots were being fired at him from the vehicle. Brydon Bryce Whitstone, 22, was shot and killed. The case is under investigation by Regina Police Service.

City of North Battleford Mayor Ryan Bater said the city still has sufficient resources following the shooting.

“I don’t think it’s prudent to suggest that anything that happened on the weekend was the result of a lack of resources,” he said.

He added he hasn’t been told that there will be any reduction in police services following the shooting.

The mayor added the shooting did come as a shock.

“I know a lot of people in our community it’s a hard thing to grasp. I think it’s important to remember what the RCMP said yesterday (Sunday) that there is no further risk to public safety,” he said.

“I think its alarming to everybody who lives here,” Bater added. “We aren’t used to this kind of incident. I can’t recall an incident like this in recent memory. Most of the violent crime that we experience here is domestic in nature. It’s usually between people who are known to each other. This kind of incident is out of the ordinary.”

Battlefords RCMP Insp. John Sutherland said there is no concern with police officer numbers to cover the area.

“Internally and externally, we have available resources to help out and take over whatever needs to be done,” he said. 

“The message to the public is not to worry,” he said. “We still have lots of available resources.”

Sutherland said while he couldn’t speak to specifically about the shooting since it is still under investigation, often violent incidents in the community are related to people’s lifestyles.

“A lot of the things that happen in this community are because of the social addictions issues,” he said. “A lot of the incidents that are reported to police and that they hear about are not stranger-to-stranger but more likely to be people that are known by another that live in a high-risk lifestyle.”  

Sutherland said many people the police deal with have mental health issues and addictions issues, which leads them into situations where they are more at risk, and “where they are more likely to run into challenges in their life.”

 

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

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