File photo of LPS Inspector Jason Walper (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By Justin Goulet

Lethbridge Police have issued warnings for public health violations: Inspector Walper

Apr 17, 2020 | 1:30 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge Police are warning residents to obey social distancing rules.

Lethbridge Police Inspector Jason Walper spoke with media on Friday morning at City Hall to provide an update on their operations.

He stated that the LPS has received a number of inquiries from the public on the enforcement of public health orders amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Like everything we do in policing, it’s based on a case-by-case basis,” he said.

“Certainly, our officers are provided the latitude of discretion at all times when they’re dealing with a situation and they will continue to assess every call they go to on a case-by-case basis and decide the best course of action given that particular incident that they’re dealing with.”

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Walper said to date, the service has not issued any violation tickets. However, they have had to issue multiple warnings.

One of those was to a local business, which he could not name, at the request of Alberta Health Services (AHS). Walper explained that officers followed up and spoke with the owners of the company.

He said the owners were cooperative and had been in touch with AHS, noting they understood the rules and that there would be no further issues going forward.

“Ultimately we want people to comply with the health orders and we truly believe education plays a huge part in that, so we’ve certainly instructed our members that if they attend a call for service, if there is a breach of a public health order and if the situation warrants it, educate the people involved, if the individuals are cooperative. If they change their behavior, them we’re more than happy and willing to issue a warning in those circumstances,” he said.

“Obviously, if we don’t get compliance, the fine option is still available, and the officers are aware of that as well.”

Walper noted that LPS has received requests from the Canadian public health agency to conduct compliance checks for travellers who have returned to Canada from abroad, who live in Lethbridge.

This is to ensure those residents are following the quarantine guidelines and isolating in their homes for 14 days following their return to the country.

Walper said they’ve received three of those requests so far.

He mentioned a situation where police responded to two parties. He could not specify where the incident occurred, but said officers attended the first call for service, and the partygoers and host were cooperative and shut down the party.

Officers were then called back to the same structure, but Walper explained there was a different party occurring in a separate suite in the home, unrelated to the first call.

Like the first call, those involved were cooperative and shut down the gathering. The people involved were given a warning, not a ticket.

“At the end of the day, we don’t want to have to issue a $1,200 ticket to any of our citizens, if we can avoid [doing] that. If they will agree to listen to us, stop what they’re doing…we would like to be able to simply issue them a warning, and provide them with some education around why it’s so important that they listen to what the Chief Medical Officer is asking us to do,” Walper said.

“For the most part, I have to say our community and our city has been very good at listening to these orders. We’ve received very few complaints and we hope that continues.”

Walper maintained that the police do not like to “make examples” of people, therefore their first instinct will not be to issue tickets, but it’s up to the officer’s discretion on whether an incident requires a fine over a warning.

“Calgary Police released that they’ve issued only seven charges of non-compliance, so to speak, in a city of 1.3 million people. So, if you think about that per capita, if we would have issued violation tickets on all four of ours [complaints] per 100,000 people, we could be criticized for over-stepping and being too harsh given the financial situation that our province, our city and our citizens are in right now,” he said.

Walper also noted that officers are equipped with personal protective equipment and if possible, they are notified that a subject is exhibiting symptoms before they attend a scene.

Unfortunately, that’s not always the case as police can respond to incidents on the fly.

He added the LPS is aware of the improving weather conditions, so he reminded residents to follow health guidelines and practice social distancing to limit the spread of the virus.