Policing is very often about more than just arresting criminals, and dealing with traffic infractions. For members of the Weyburn Police Service, the calls they receive on a daily basis vary from those of a criminal nature to well-being checks, to bylaw inquiries, to domestic dispute situations.

Deputy Police Chief Brent Van De Sype explained that in the case of something like a call from a neighbour about a loud argument next door, it is often a call out of concern.

“They’ll call the police, just concerned that something might escalate,” Van De Sype said. “The police go there, obviously, and try to speak to the parties that are involved, and determine what has taken place and try to mediate, or resolve it.”

In these situations, the officers aren’t looking to assign blame, or take sides in the argument.

“They want to come there, they want to assess the situation,” Van De Sype added. “If there’s nothing criminal, if it’s not physical, if it’s a disagreement, yes, they want it resolved. They want to, you know, show that empathy and resolve it in the best way they can.”

There could be a number of ways that a dispute is resolved, or mediated. In situations like the one that the police responded to last week, it just means the two parties take a break from the conversation.

“Often in situations like this, its just kind of heat of the moment, so one party may agree just to, you know, spend the night, somewhere else for the time being, and then they can take up their discussion later when tempers are more calm,” he explained.