North Bay Police have filed their first charge for failing to comply with an order made during a declared emergency.

Police were called to a report of a person in a park who was not abiding by the requirement that restricts the use of outdoor recreational equipment on April 23rd.

The fine is $750 plus additional court costs totalling $880.

Police say they continue to educate and promote compliance with the current restrictions made through the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.

For the week of April 12th to April 18th police responded to 91 calls for service that had a Covid-19 component in them. These calls included requests for information, unfounded calls and occurrences dealing with actions deemed temporarily banned. During that time frame 35 warnings were issued with the main area of education being the use of outdoor recreational facilities, gatherings of greater than 5 people and the closure of non-essential businesses.

Police advise that as a result of COVID-19 the government has made a number of temporarily designations including;

– Outdoor recreational facilities are closed however open spaces, trails, and walkways in all the parks in North Bay remain open, but people need to respect social distancing. Playgrounds, benches, picnic tables or other equipment cannot be used and are deemed as banned.
– Sports fields are closed
– Gatherings of over 5 people are banned
– A provincial fire ban is in effect in Ontario
– Designated non-essential businesses are closed

(File photo by station staff)

Filed under: covid-19, north-bay-police-service