Brazen assaults on officers worry police

The Saskatoon Police Service is troubled by an escalating degree of violence in assaults against police officers.

Of particular concern are two attacks on officers last weekend — one in which three officers were bear sprayed in the face and another where a likely intoxicated man charged and attacked an officer.

“The public has no idea the level of danger officers face on a regular basis,” Saskatoon police spokesperson Alyson Edwards said Thursday.

“We certainly are hoping this does not become more common in the types of calls we are dealing with.”

The number of charges laid for assaulting police or peace officers waxes and wanes. In 2006, Saskatoon city police officers laid 148 charges of assaulting a peace officer, but last year, it was 102 charges. The numbers bob up and down in the years between.

Regina police seem to be dealing with a lower rate of attacks on officers, laying between 39 and 44 charges in the past three years.

Prince Albert’s city police are coping with almost as many officer assaults as Regina, with a range of 31 to 52 charges a year in the last five years.

“In the course of a police officer’s duties, they are going to deal with combative, aggressive, emotional, assertive people,” Edwards said. “That’s part of the job.”

But the degree of violence used in two recent Saskatoon incidents worries Edwards and her colleagues.

At about 1 a.m. Saturday, two police cars responded to a domestic dispute on the 1200 block of Avenue C North. Three officers had just arrived on the scene and were making initial inquiries when a man discharged bear spray in their faces, incapacitating all three, Edwards said. Paramedics treated them at the scene and several backup police units were called in.

A 21-year-old Saskatoon man was arrested on an outstanding Canada-wide warrant, and initially charged with three counts of assault- ing a police officer. Edwards said the Crown prosecutor assigned to the case later upgraded the charges to assaulting a police officer with a weapon.

On Sunday night, another officer was en route to an emergency call in an unmarked police car on Taylor Street near Broadway Avenue when a man stepped into the vehicle’s path while making an obscene gesture. The officer swerved to avoid the man and got out of the vehicle to question him. The man charged at the officer, began fighting him and tried to get his gun.

The officer subdued the suspect and was able to radio for backup, Edwards said. At that point, a second man who was with the attacker, who looked as if he might join in, fled the scene, Edwards said.

An 18-year-old man now faces charges of assaulting a police officer and three breach of conditions charges.

Other officers were also assaulted on the weekend when police responded to a domestic dispute on Appleby Crescent, Edwards said. When an officer tried to question a man, the man became combative and got into a tussle with the officers, resulting in a charge of assaulting a police officer.

According to the Criminal Code, the charge of assaulting a peace or police officer can include an attack on a person aiding a police officer, an assault in the course of resisting or preventing one’s own arrest or someone else’s, assaulting someone who is making a lawful seizure of goods or land, and attempting to disarm a police officer.

In less serious matters, if found guilty, an offender can be sentenced to up to six months in jail, fined up to $5,000, or both. If found guilty of an indictable offence, a judge may impose a sentence of up to five years in prison.

How many of these charges result in convictions, however, is not easy to find out.

According to the Courts of Saskatchewan, court officers have limited search capabilities to compile information on how many people have been convicted of any particular charge.