Booze-fueled holiday leads to more than 60 arrests

ODILE NELSON

Nunavik police experienced their busiest holiday season in recent memory, with more than 30 arrests for criminal offences, 30 to 50 arrests for municipal bylaw infractions, and at least five arrests for impaired driving.

Kuujjuaq’s New Year’s Eve celebrations alone drew more than 200 calls for police assistance — roughly one call for every 10 people living in Nunavik’s largest community.

Kativik Regional Police Chief Brian Jones said the number of incidents was higher than usual, but added most arrests were made in response to the region’s new peace, order and good government bylaw.

The bylaw was not in effect throughout Nunavik’s 14 communities in December 2001, Jones said.

“We probably had 20 or 25 arrests last year. [But this year] A lot of it is municipal infractions for things like drunkenness in a public place,” Jones said. “The bylaw allows us to deal with problem situations before they get out of hand.”

But though the Nunavik-wide bylaw is designed to prevent serious crime, police still made more than 30 arrests for such criminal offences as common and sexual assault between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2.

Jones was reluctant to attribute the unusually large number of criminal arrests to any one factor.

He said the KRPF had more staff this year but he would not attribute the high number of criminal arrests either to increased police vigilance alone or to unusually rowdy celebrations.

But a KRPF press release says all criminal arrests involved the overconsumption of alcohol.

Police have sent nine detainees to Amos, Que., on charges ranging from breach of probation to assault with a weapon. Seven more will join them by the end of this week.

Jones said his officers’ ability to manage the many incidents was commendable.

“I wouldn’t say we were overwhelmed. It was just busy I guess,” Jones said. “But you could say we were surprised because, compared to other years, we weren’t expecting calls at this range.”