The COVID-19 pandemic has changed just about everything over the past several weeks and that includes policing.
Staff Sergeant Rene Aubertin of the Belleville Police Service says when the State of Emergency was first called and most businesses closed along with other restrictions the number of calls for service dropped in half.
“People were shocked and very worried and I guess they were hunkered down in their residences but after the first two weeks our calls for service jumped back up to normal.”
Aubertin says that in the past, the number of calls to police have actually increased because people have called in about others breaking COVID-19 restrictions such as gathering in groups and ignoring physical distancing.
While many might think that the number of domestic disputes would increase with so many people staying home for long periods of time, Aubertin says the stats haven’t shown that.
“What we have seen is a dramatic decrease in the number of collisions on our streets and roads because so many people are off work” says Aubertin.
However the flip side of that has been a surge in the number of speeders and in the number of speeding tickets handed out.
“I guess because there’s more room on the roads some people take that as a cue to speed. We’ve seen some ridiculous speeds but that’s been the case not only in Belleville but province-wide.”
In summary Aubertin says the vast majority of people have been fantastic about following the pandemic restrictions and “even those we have to talk to about breaking rules understand where we’re coming from and change their ways. We’ve only had to lay one charge regarding COVID rule infractions and it’s been several weeks now.”
