Acting Regina police chief Lorilee Davies says she’s open to top job after Sheikh’s firing

On Tuesday, Regina police chief Farooq Sheikh was fired after an investigation into complaints against him.

The investigation, conducted by the Public Complaints Commission, found Sheikh had acted in a way that was “dishonourable” to the police service after he engaged in “inappropriate private communications” with a member of the police board. Sheikh, who was hired by the police force in 2023 to take over from outgoing chief Evan Bray, was removed from active service in April, pending the investigation by the commission.

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Lorilee Davies, who has served as interim police chief during the investigation, will continue in that role while the search for a new police chief begins. She joined the Evan Bray Show on Wednesday morning to discuss the firing of Sheikh, the latest crime statistics and other police issues in the Queen City.

Listen to the full interview here, or read the transcript below:

The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

EVAN BRAY: We’ve been talking a lot about the news that came down yesterday, the announcement Farooq Sheikh was fired by the Regina Board of Police Commissioners. I know that you weren’t involved in the investigation. You have no inside knowledge of it, but can you talk about what the last six months have been like? You’ve been basically steering the ship. You’ve been the leader in the organization waiting for this outcome. How has that been for the organization?

LORILEE DAVIES: I think that anytime there’s uncertainty at the top, it creates a little bit of uncertainty amongst our front line. And so, I think, for them it is good to have a resolution. I know there have been instances where people in the public would be asking questions about it or making comments about it. Even I’ve heard things like “Should we be making these decisions right now? We’re in this position where we don’t know what’s happening with leadership,” and so I think for the service as a whole, it’s great to have a resolution on this no matter what the outcome would have been, but it’s nice to know. OK, this chapter is closed. It’s behind us, and now we can move forward and really get to the work that needs to be done, which is ensuring that we have community safety in our city.

We asked people on our open lines today about Sheikh’s firing, “Does this change the way you trust the police service when you hear about cases like this, whether it’s an individual office or, in this case, a chief of police?” The majority of people texted in saying, “No. They get investigated. That’s the system that’s in place.” What are you hearing you’re out in the community?

DAVIES: I think that policing is really based on relationships, and depending on the relationships you’ve had with different members of the service, it really personally impacts how you feel about police. Even last night, I had good conversations with community members in North Central saying, “Hey, we’ve dealt with police officers who’ve been fantastic. They’re great. You know, we love the way that they interact with us, and we have confidence in the Regina Police Service.” And I think for all of our 600 employees at Regina Police Service, it’s those one-on-one interactions that might not seem like a big deal, but I think for everyone having those interactions in a way that’s positive really frames their opinion of the police service. I’m happy to hear that the sample of your listeners are saying they still have confidence in the in the Regina Police Service, and certainly my commitment and our officers’ commitment is to continue to do what we can to ensure we maintain community trust.

Will you apply for the job?

DAVIES: Well, I don’t know what that will look like yet. I understand the board hasn’t determined what will happen yet, and obviously I think it’s not a secret I applied for the job a number of months back. I’ve been doing the acting role for some time now, and so I care very much about our community and about our members. And if the opportunity were to present itself, I would think that I would say yes.

There’s a funding announcement from the province coming today. And I know you can’t scoop exactly what is the funding for, but it’s coming from civil forfeiture, right?

DAVIES: Every year, police services have an opportunity to apply for civil forfeiture grants. And this is essentially the money that police services in the province sees from criminal investigations. It’s gone through the court; that money has been forfeited. The province has that pool of money, and then they ask police services to apply to determine if we have something that we would like to fund through that. In the past, we’ve had things like our outdoor training facility that is used up by the Saskatchewan Police College. We’ve received funding for different pieces of equipment that we need. I know last year, Moose Jaw received funding from civil forfeiture for their child-advocacy centre. So it’s really about taking that money that’s been forfeited, money that was used for evil, and turning it into something good. And really it’s a great way for us to not rely on the taxpayers of our communities, that we can use that money to help offset costs.

I had a text the other day from a caller in Regina. Her son was trying to sell an iPhone and made arrangements to meet at the Regina Police Service safe transactions zone, and said that transaction was seamless. She said, “I think it’s a cool thing, a pretty well-used initiative.”

DAVIES: I don’t have stats yet. It’s still pretty new for us. It was something that we shamelessly borrowed from another police service. And it’s really about people buying and selling things online, and it’s a great way to get a deal, in some instances. But we also take a number of reports from people who get robbed or have had a theft or are defrauded by meeting someone when there’s no one else around, so in a dark parking lot, in a street where there’s nobody out in the public. It’s really a way for us to be able to say, “Here is a space. It is well lit. We have cameras there. If you’re not sure about the transaction, clearly you likely don’t know the person that you’re dealing with, that this is a safe way for you to have that exchange.” It’s done in a way that we can, after the fact, if there was something that would happen, we could pull that video. So I think it’s just another option for people to protect themselves, and hopefully we can reduce some of the crimes.

We recently saw the Regina City Council follow suit with what Saskatoon council did, enacting and utilizing the public spaces legislation that the province laid out. Municipalities organizations have to opt in to this, and you provided some perspective and a presentation to city council on your view on this act.

DAVIES: It’s another tool in the toolbox for us. I don’t suspect that we will be utilizing it every day, all the time. I think there are certain instances where it will be helpful. For instance, we, under previous legislation, were able to issue a ticket for bear spray. Or if you had a bear spray container that was defaced so you couldn’t tell what it was, that was a ticketable offense. That legislation was repealed, and it’s now rolled into this new legislation. We did utilize that for a number of charges in 2024, so that will be one of the ways that we use it. And for other instances, if we see somebody who potentially is vulnerable – maybe they’re facing addiction issues – we come across them with something like a machete or a knife. They’re not threatening anyone. They’re not using it in a manner that would equate to a criminal charge. We can still seize that weapon to ensure community safety, and we can do it under this legislation in a way that is authorized for our front line.

You hear people that are opposed to this, who often will say it’s just a way of further criminalizing people. But that that’s the exact opposite.

DAVIES: It is the exact opposite. I know there was a lot of concern raised about hypodermic needles. They are included in this legislation and defined as a weapon. We are not about to be seizing hypodermic needles from people who are going to exchange them, for instance, or they’re used for medical purposes. We do support harm reduction. I don’t think that this is an either-or. We can be in favour of harm reduction and still utilize this legislation in some situations, exactly as you outlined, without criminalizing someone.

Let’s talk about the good news and the bad news in the crime stats.

DAVIES: The good news is we’re down almost 17 per cent from last year the end of September. Both property crimes and violent crimes are down, which is fantastic news. In terms of the not so good, for homicides this year, we are trending upward, as you know. There kind of no rhyme or reason in terms of those numbers year over year, whether they’re high or they’re low. The good news, from our perspective, is that we’ve laid charges in all of the homicides we’ve had this year. For the community to know that we’re holding those people accountable, I hope, is some solace. And arsons continue to be a little bit of a pressure point for us. They’re still up just over five per cent, but we have a committee going with (the Regina Police Service), with the City of Regina, with Regina Fire & Protective Services, and they’re trying a few different things, pilots around garbage bin pickup, and trying some different things there, because the largest majority of fires that we go to are garbage bin fires, which are over 22 per cent. And so that’s a big number. If we can do something proactively to reduce those, then that’s a good thing.

Let’s go back to the murder stats, which you said are up a bit. I know we would categorize them. Was it a drug related incident? Was it domestic related? Can you give us a sense? Is it still following those types of themes? Anything standing out there?

DAVIES: I wouldn’t say there’s a theme, but I think it’s all of the things. Some are drug related, some are gang related, some are, unfortunately, domestic related. And it’s hard for us to pinpoint one area, but certainly our investigative units that work in the gang space, work in the drug space, are doing the best that they can to be able to stop those things before they occur. And certainly knowing who’s out there causing the most havoc in the city, and arresting them and holding them accountable prior to an escalation of violence, is something, obviously, that we continue to do.

I noticed Criminal Code driving infractions are up. Anything you can point to that might be causing that?

DAVIES: I would say it is 100 per cent related to the fantastic, diligent work of our traffic safety units, which is fully staffed this year for the first time in a couple years. We’ve had some people off on different types of leaves, and so they are a dedicated crew of folks. And they are really doing a great job in terms of impaired and exceed driving, dangerous driving. I think our impaired driving charges are up 12 per cent over last year, and dangerous driving charges are up 37 per cent, and I think another part of that is having our front line adequately resourced, and they do have patrol or have the time for patrol officers to be able to conduct those traffic stops. They’re not going call to call to call, but have the opportunity to do some proactive traffic enforcement.

Is there still a law about people being drunk in a public place, or under the influence of drugs in a public place to the point that it’s a danger to themselves or others? My follow-up question is about the complex-needs emergency shelter, which I know you capture in your crime stats as well. It has been used fairly extensively by the police service, so how does that factor into it?

DAVIES: The first part of the question, “Is there still a law?” There is it’s under the Alcohol and Gaming regulations where it is an offence to be intoxicated in a public place in a way that you are a danger to yourself or others. For the most part, our goal is not to ticket folks that find themselves in those situations, because we recognize, certainly, that it is likely a health it’s an addictions issue. We are fortunate; we do have a complex-needs facility in Regina. If we find somebody in that type of situation, we can transport them to the complex-needs facility, and they’re able to speak to someone there, an addictions counsellor, a mental health worker. They work to try and find them housing, a hot meal, a shower, a conversation. And previous to that facility, the option was detention, and we’re keeping somebody there until they’re at a point where we feel like they can responsibly take care of themselves, or the emergency room. We know that that is also not the best option. Whenever we can, we will try and transport people to the complex-needs facility, and we can hopefully interrupt that cycle and get them on a road to recovery.

We know that we’ve seen homeless encampments pop up from time to time, and typically this time of year is maybe where they become a little more noticeable. Is there a strategy in place? Have you talked about this with city and fire, and how these will be handled?

DAVIES: We have an encampment strategy team that meets weekly, and they have for quite some time, including Regina police, fire, the Ministry of Social Services and Regina Street Team. They meet weekly to discuss situations where we see encampments pop up. Who is the best to lead that? Who’s the best to reach out and provide support? With the new beginning shelter that’s been utilized as well, that is a place for folks to go that are experiencing houselessness. As the weather gets colder, I know that we’ll hear from other community partners about additional spaces that people can go to ensure that they are out of the cold. That work will continue to amp up as the weather trends colder.