Concerns about how the Prince George RCMP handled reports of a vagrant man who lit two separate fires in front Prince George Aquatic Centre Thursday afternoon before he went inside to smoke drugs in a changing room stall were explained by the detachment’s media relations officer.
Cpl. Jennifer Cooper said officers responded to the scene twice that afternoon after the pool attendant made the original call to the 9-1-1 dispatcher shortly after 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
Cooper said the caller was told by the dispatcher that because it was not an urgent life-threatening situation she should instead call the RCMP’s non-emergency number (250-561-3300) to speak to an officer and within minutes of the 9-1-1 call that second call was made.
According to Cooper, a police officer arrived about 20 minutes later and could not locate the man, and after seeing the first fire on the property had been extinguished he left the scene.
“There were multiple calls made over the two-hour timespan,” said Cooper. “The officer looked around for the fire and nothing was still burning and there was no significant damage to the building and he spoke to the person who made the call and that person seemed satisfied. All they wanted was the suspect gone.”
The man reappeared and decided to light another fire on the other side of the front entrance and the attendant called the RCMP’s non-emergency number again and was told to monitor the situation and to call back if anything else should happen.
When the man moved inside the building and locked himself in one of the changeroom stalls to smoke what smelled like marijuana, the attendant called police again and public access to the changeroom area was closed.
A police officer came back to the scene 30 minutes later and the man was found outside of the building at about 5:19 p.m.
“Considering they were dealing with multiple assaults in progress and other more-priority files, a 30 minute time delay is still a very fast response when nobody’s life is actively in danger,” said Cooper.
“The suspect was told in no uncertain terms that he was not to keep hanging around the pool and he left and did not go back, that we know of.”
Cooper said the incident serves as a reminder to the public that 9-1-1 calls are only for dire situations, such as a medical emergency, serious accident or a fire that poses a safety risk.
“9-1-1 should be used for life-or-death priority calls and we have to be little bit choosy when we think about what is a life-or-death priority because there’s only a small amount of 9-1-1 phone lines available for all of Northern B.C.,” said Cooper.
“Those 9-1-1 phone lines get used up pretty quickly, so our dispatchers like to keep them available and open. If you get asked to call back on the non-emergency line it’s not because we don’t think your complaint doesn’t warrant police attention, but we’re really trying to keep those 9-1-1 priority lines available for those types of calls.”
