Four people spent the night behind bars in the last week, after being taken into custody by the Weyburn Police Service for public intoxication. Deputy Police Chief Shane St. John says they have seen an uptick in these incidents.
“We get a lot of those calls for intoxicated people. Sometimes they have sober friends or family that can take them. Sometimes they're not around or not willing to take them and they just can't be in public. So there is definitely an uptick and the warmer weather has something to do with that for sure.”
St. John explains that there are a number of circumstances that can lead to a public intoxication arrest, but oftentimes it isn’t possible to find a friend or relative to take care of the intoxicated person.
“It could be outside an establishment and they're causing issues and then maybe there's a sober friend that says they'll take them. But that's not always the case.”
“Sometimes they're found and someone calls them in. They're on the street, they're on the lawn, somewhere passed out. It could be a well-being check, we got someone that doesn't look quite right and when we check on them, they're just heavily intoxicated.”
If an intoxicated person is found out in public, St. John advises it’s best to contact the police to handle it, saying they can be very unpredictable.
“It could just be a civilian thinking they're trying to help them, and it could end up going bad for them. So it's always best, just safest, to call us and let us handle it.”