Trick-or-treating Halloween night and visiting houses for Halloween parties is going to be kept under the watchful eye of the Nanaimo RCMP. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

PARTY PATROL

Nanaimo RCMP focusing on Halloween house parties, enforcing health orders

Oct 31, 2020 | 7:44 AM

NANAIMO — Police will have a different focus Halloween night due to a newly amended public health order.

Nanaimo RCMP will join public health inspectors on ride-alongs on Saturday, Oct. 31, responding to complaints of house parties and other large group gatherings.

“We’ll have a team of six who will be on a complaint-driven basis attending to incidents where people are gathering with more than six people from their homes,” Cst. Gary O’Brien said. “That could result in fines, a warning or an investigation that commences from that incident.”

The public health order was put in place Monday, Oct. 26 in response to record high case totals across B.C., though numbers within Island Health were manageable throughout most of the pandemic.

Police expect Halloween to be much quieter for them this year due to the pandemic limiting public gatherings.

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Restaurants and bars must either close or stop selling alcohol after 10 p.m. under a separate health order delivered in September.

O’Brien said the detachment will patrol the city with a variety of resources including plain-clothed and general duty officers.

To date, Nanaimo RCMP have not issued any fines or other penalties related to COVID-19 public health orders.

Another common issue for police on Halloween are fireworks, which are banned in both Nanaimo and Parksville without a special permit.

“(In Nanaimo) you have to have (a permit) two weeks in advance,” O’Brien said. “We will be actively looking for those and people can be subject to seizure or a fine.”

Using fireworks is not regulated in the Regional District of Nanaimo

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