Teens carrying bear spray and hand-made shanks and using drugs and alcohol are making the community more dangerous, and risking serious injury and weapons charges, say Campbell River RCMP.
Officers are finding young people carrying bear spray that they say is for protection, but “use of the spray has a tendency to make the community more, not less dangerous,” media relations officer Const. Maury Tyre said Friday in a statement.
“Youth need to be made very aware that use of any weapon can end in the ultimate tragedy of loss of life or serious damage to someone else.”
Youth are more often using bear spray in offensive, not defensive attacks, said Tyre, citing the case of a teen who deployed the highly pressurized spray on another male in retribution for losing an earlier fight.
“It was only the unwillingness of the victim to take part in the investigation that prevented the assailant from being charged with assault with a weapon under Section 267 of the Criminal Code,” said Tyre.
Police are also finding bear spray and knives in backpacks when they’re breaking up groups of 14- or 15-year-olds who are drinking or smoking marijuana in public places such as school fields late at night, said Tyre.
At 3 a.m., these youth are often drunk and high and carrying concealed weapons — “that’s dangerous,” he said.
Bear spray is highly pressurized so it can deter a large animal such as a bear, but used on humans, it could cause serious injury, to a person’s eye, for example.
If that happens, police warn they could pursue aggravated-assault charges.
Other items being found on youth when Campbell River police investigate disturbances include bongs — often used for smoking cannabis — worth hundreds of dollars, illegally and legally procured marijuana, homemade shanks, and vapes worth in excess of $100, said police.
“None of these items are actually legal for youth to have in Canada,” said Tyre.
Tyre suggests that guardians or people who are “gainfully employed” are likely purchasing the drugs, bear spray and expensive bongs and vapes for the youth.
There are substantial fines for adults procuring alcohol and marijuana for youth, and if guardians purchased bear spray or other weapons and they’re used in the commission of an offence, “you could find yourself to be criminally negligent or liable in civil court,” police said.
If youth say they need weapons for protection, “it’s probably time to start asking where they are hanging out and who they are hanging out with,” said Tyre.
Most violent crimes involve people who are known to each other — not strangers, said Tyre. If a youth is hanging out with people who carry weapons, those same weapons could be used on them, he said.
To contact Campbell River RCMP about criminal activity, call 250-286-6221 or in an emergency, call 911.
