Police did respond to Sask. Party office incident Monday night

We’re learning from the Regina Police Service (RPS) that an officer did respond to the Sask. Party candidate’s office the night the property damage was found.

But, there’s no record of the interaction or attendance there.

That’s according to Lorilee Davies, Deputy Chief of Operations at RPS.

“It came to our attention this morning (Thursday) that one of our officers was out at the constituency office Monday evening,” she said.

“We, unfortunately, had no record of that interaction or attendance there, and so clearly we need to shore some things up on the communication front.”

The original news release from RPS said, “At approximately 7:20 p.m. on Monday, October 21st, 2024, officers received the report of a mischief.”

It goes on to say that an officer responded the following morning, but this was not the case.

Davies hopes to clear up any confusion as soon as possible, but the officer who responded to the call is currently on days off.

“We’ve been unable to speak to that officer, they’ve been on days off,” she said.

“But we clearly will be having some communication with them when they get back to work.”

She acknowledges this is a big misunderstanding and the RPS takes full ownership of it.

“We should know when our officers are out dealing with an incident, and unfortunately, we didn’t have that information when the question was asked,” Davies said.

She was unable to speak for the officer who responded to the call initially. So it’s unclear if the RPS communicated to the Sask. Party that the damage might have been gunshots.

But Davies is still certain the damage was not caused by bullets. She said there are multiple explanations for this.

“We don’t have any video,” she said. “We don’t have any eyewitnesses to our knowledge.”

She said the nature of the damage also explains why it wasn’t from a gunshot.

“There are two panes of glass and there was only one pane that was damaged,” Davies said. “There was no bullet casing at the scene. There were no bullets left at the scene. And so those are the types of things we would expect if it was a firearm.”

Davies said the timeline not adding up and confusion around the incident are fair.

“It would be 100 per cent my expectation as the Deputy Chief, that if that was the information that the officer gathered at the time, that they would have conducted an immediate investigation,” she said. “So we have some things to shore up.”

As far as the intent of the damage, Davies is still unsure if it’s related to the election or random.

“There were a number of mischief incidents in that area over the time frame that this may have occurred that are not related to the election,” she said. “I couldn’t say whether or not that was the intent when it happened.”

She said it is too early to determine if the officer who responded will face consequences for not reporting the interaction.

Scott Moe claims transparency

On Thursday, Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe said his party didn’t jump on or pump up the damage at the campaign office to downplay other negative stories that day.

He said he was giving the information the party volunteers had gotten from the police Monday night.

“I was fully transparent with the information that we had, also fully transparent with the concerns I had about any type of action like this, whatever the projectile might be on any campaign office across the province,” said Moe.

What he did, he said, was just answer questions.

“The fact of the matter is that there was some type of projectile that came in a campaign office and my first concern, and I think everyone that is on this stage with me or any leader or any candidate or any volunteer’s concern is for the safety of the people that are putting their foot forward, to volunteer, to work in the great democratic process that we have,” he said.

Though there isn’t any evidence, as of yet, that the damage was politically motivated, Moe continued to talk about the importance of safety and the safety of the volunteers. “That is my concern and that was my concern from day one.”

Moe also said he trusts the Regina police will do a thorough investigation.

— with files from 980 CJME’s Gillian Massie and Lisa Schick