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“Mischief” in Barriere an arrest-able offence, says RCMP Corporal

Acts of egging and lighting fires can result in jail time

Cpl. Darin Underhill

Barriere RCMP Detachment

Over the last three weeks the Barriere RCMP have received numerous complaints from residents around Deejay Road, Robin Drive, Oriole Way and McLean Road.  There have been incidents of numerous houses being egged late in the evening with the last being on Saturday, Dec. 13.

The other concerning thing happening is someone has been putting paper items on the front step of houses and lighting them on fire, knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell, then running away.

Both of these actions are “Mischief” under the Criminal Code of Canada and are an arrest-able offence.

There is potential for a great deal of costly damage to be done in either case.  The other important thing to note is the person(s) committing these acts of “Arson” by lighting the fires, are arrest-able for a straight indictable offence, which means you will be arrested and held in custody to go before a judge, which could mean sitting in jail for 24-72 hours while you wait.  The judge then has the discretion to hold you in custody until the trial, depending on the circumstances of the incident.

Police would like to remind the public that police are available in Barriere and area, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

We will respond to each call for service based on its priority and availability.

It is important when an incident such as these occur that you record what detail you can of the incident, call the police ( 911 ) right away so the police have a good opportunity to catch the perpetrator in the act.  It is difficult to follow up on the incidents when it is an hour and a half later,  or three days later.

Please keep a close eye on who is in and around your neighbourhood, and if it is someone of concern you can call the police to attend and check on things – being pro-active rather than reactive.

With this it is also important to let the police investigate these incidents and not start rumours of who “may” be committing these offences as it could put you into a criminal defamatory libel situation.

If you have information on these or any other crimes please contact the Barriere RCMP at 250-672-9918 or call Crime Stoppers.