After arresting a 29-year-old Peterborough man for smashing a front window at La Mesita Restaurante in downtown Peterborough early Sunday morning (June 7), police are addressing community concerns about their response time to the incident.
Martin and Kelly Carbajal, owners of the Mexican restaurant at 247 George Street North just north of Sherbrooke, posted a photo of the smashed window on social media on Sunday morning, promoting hundreds of reactions and comments ranging from support to frustration to outrage.
Some of the comments criticized the response time of Peterborough police to the incident, given the size of the police budget, with the Carbajals noting that police did not arrive at the restaurant until later that morning.
On Monday morning, police issued a media release stating they had received calls about the smashed window at around 2:35 a.m. on Sunday. After beginning their investigation later that morning, they identified a suspect with the assistance of video evidence, including police CCTV cameras.
Their investigation determined that the suspect had been removed from a nearby establishment prior to breaking the window. Although police did not identify the establishment, both Riley’s and The Junction are located immediately to the north of the restaurant.
While walking past the restaurant, police say the suspect smashed the restaurant window with his fist and continued walking.
At around 5 p.m. on Sunday, the suspect — who was aware officers were looking for him — turned himself into the police, at which time he was arrested and charged with mischief under $5,000. He was released on an undertaking and promise to appear in court, with a hearing scheduled for September 1.
Peterborough police chief Stuart Betts issued a statement regarding the incident, including the police response.
“The incident has received significant attention in local and social media, and it is very unfortunate and disappointing that this happened as the impact on the restaurant owner is very real,” Chief Betts said.
“As chief of police, I would like to address the comments about the police response and acknowledge there can be frustration when officers aren’t immediately available to respond to a call, therefore, I would like to take the unusual step of sharing with the community what our officers were engaged with at the time the call came in for the broken window.”
According to the police chief, police were dealing with 12 other calls when they received calls about the smashed window.
The other calls included a mental health call in which a person was on a bridge threatening self-harm and was apprehended and taken to Peterborough Regional Health Centre for their safety, an intimate partner violence call resulting in an arrest and a man being transported to the police station, and a disturbing-the-peace call for an intoxicated man creating problems downtown, who was arrested and transported to the police station.
“In addition to the above calls, there were an additional nine calls in the queue,” Chief Betts said. “Considering the calls in progress and those others outstanding, our communicators notified the restaurant owner that officers would be unavailable to attend until the dayshift as the response at that point was an investigative one.”
“I recognize that incidents like these are frustrating and can garner a lot of heated discourse, often made in the heat of the moment without a full awareness of what is taking place throughout the entirety of the city, and while it may not feel like it, the men and women of your police service continue to perform an outstanding job,” Chief Betts added.
He also asked residents to “consider the numbers below,” providing a list of the increasing number of arrests and charges in the first six months of each of the past four years, “and where things would be without the investment (city) council has made in public safety.” For example, there were 1,252 arrests and 2,025 charges from January 1 to June 8 in 2023, with those numbers increasing to 1,978 arrests and 3,185 charges in the same period this year.
“I am grateful for their support and incredibly proud of the work of our entire team,” Betts concluded. “Our members are your neighbours, they shop where you shop, their kids go to school and play sports with your kids, and they are equally frustrated and invested in this city and work hard to be responsive and keep it safe for you and for their families.”
