The Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners meeting covered a lot of ground this week afternoon, with topics of discussion ranging from the use of force to evade police incidents, as well as contact interviews and a first-quarter crime report.

Use of Force

In 2023, the Saskatoon Police Service was dispatched to 98,783 calls for service, 275 of which resulted in the use of force. This is a 7.8 per cent increase compared to 2022.

A report detailing each instance was presented to the Board of Police Commissioners today. Superintendent Darren Pringle says of the 275 incidents, 93 of the suspects were deemed injured in the aftermath. Although none of them died, 72 required medical attention and 26 were hospitalized.

Suspects weren’t the only one’s getting hurt. Officers were injured in 27 instances, with 20 more members being hurt in 2023 over 2022.

“So, that’s a challenge for us because it adds to the people who are off work, and it also creates concern for the families as they wait, for example, when officers get spit on, waiting for blood results to come back pursuant to a mandatory test.”

However, due to receiving over 10,000 more calls in 2023, the ratio of officer injuries remains the same in 2023 as compared to 2022. The most common types of force used by officers included conducted energy weapons, the use of canines, physical strikes, takedowns, and spit socks.

Evade Police Incidents

Evade Police Incidents that result in a pursuit are on the rise in Saskatoon according to the 2023 report.

Inspector Tyson Lavallee says last year, there were 99 instances of drivers fleeing a traffic stop and initiating a police chase.

“The number of pursuits has increased by 32 per cent in comparison to 2022. While this is an increase in comparison to last year’s numbers, we’re still in comparison to years passed.”

Eighty-two of these pursuits stayed within city boundaries, with the average chase lasting 3 minutes and 18 seconds.

In 2023 there were also 70 Evade Police Incidents that did not result in a pursuit.
In total, 127 people were arrested as a result of one of these cases.

Contact Interview Report

Each year since 2020, an annual audit of contact interviews conducted by the Saskatoon Police Service has taken place. The results of the 2023 audit are in, and they show a reduction in contact interviews for a third consecutive year.

Inspector Tyson Lavallee says a contact interview is a contact with the public, initiated by a member of the police service, for the purpose of obtaining information.

“Contact interviews are defined by three categories; lack of apparent reason to be in a particular area, a person’s actions or behaviors raise concern for their purpose or safety, or a person is in need of assistance.”

In 2023, the police service conducted 11 contact interviews, down 5 from 2022. The number of contact interviews has been on the downward slope since 2020 when new policies were implemented by the province. For comparison, 239 were conducted in 2020.

Seven of the 11 interviews were initiated due to the subject’s behavior, and they were performed in areas across the city, with no identifiable trend. Eight of 11 occurred in the early morning hours before 8:00am.

Q1 Crime Activity Report

The Saskatoon Police Service has compiled a report detailing the crime activity and trends in the first quarter of 2024 with homicides, criminal harassment, and break and enters being areas of note.

Acting Deputy Chief Dave Haye says between January 1st and March 31st, Saskatoon saw six homicides, five of which occurred in February and one in March. These homicides, along will other activities such as criminal harassment, has resulted in a 9.6 per cent increase in violent crimes compared to quarter one of 2023.

“First quarter we had 56 criminal harassment events. First (record of this statistic) is 37 in 2023. Criminal harassment takes the form of stalking, which is repeated contact that is carried out over a period of time, which causes a person to fear for their safety.”

In addition, there were several B&E investigations of note. For example, in March, investigators charged a man who is alleged to have been involved in break and enters to three senior living facilities between December 2023 and January.