“We want the public to know that we are not unsympathetic to the frustrations and concerns this situation has elicited.”
That is from Corporal Jennifer Cooper, Media Relations Officer for the Prince George RCMP, in response to a situation at the Aquatic Centre last week.
According to police, multiple calls were made on Thursday afternoon (April 25th) about a person setting fires outside the pool and supposedly doing drugs inside the changeroom.
While this was happening, multiple 9-1-1 calls were made. Eventually, the dispatcher asked the caller to stop phoning and instead contact the non-emergency line.
The RCMP said this was in line with their Operations Control Centre policy, as there are “a small number of 9-1-1 emergency phone lines available for the entire Northern B.C. region and it is standard practice to keep those phone lines open for priority life or death calls.”
“Our police officers attended this location twice in a two-hour time span to respond to the complaints made about the person loitering inside and outside the facility,” Cooper said. “In between these particular calls for service, the same police officer responded to two separate reports of assaults-in-progress, while the other on-duty police officers were similarly busy.”
She added the first time officers arrived to the pool the man had already left, then police escorted him out of the pool when he returned shortly after.
The Prince George RCMP’s non emergency number is 250-561-3300.
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