Police are seeking a suspect who allegedly exposed himself to children at a local hotel earlier this month.
On Feb. 12 around 8 p.m., police responded to a call from a hotel night security manager reporting a man between 40 and 50 had exposed himself to a number of children there.
The security manager instructed staff to search the hotel for the man. Hotel staff also found surveillance footage of the suspect, which was then turned over to police.
"Officers searched the building and interviewed some of the parents and some of the children," Whistler RCMP R. Const. Steve LeClair said.
The suspect was wearing a dark baseball cap, a black jacket and blue jeans with a hole in them.
"He was covering his face in quite a bit of the footage," LeClair explained.
LeClair said Whistler RCMP have contacted other jurisdictions to see if any other similar cases have been reported. While there was recently a similar incident in the Lower Mainland where a suspect with a hole in his jeans exposed himself, LeClair said officers determined that the cases do not involve the same suspect.
Anyone with information on the suspect can contact the detachment at 604-932-3044.
Officer-in-Charge receives report on complaint against detachment
A report regarding a complaint against the Whistler RCMP has been submitted to Officer-in-Charge of the Sea to Sky, Insp. Kara Triance.
LeClair, who authored the report, said it was submitted on Feb. 21.
The complaint was made by a Vancouver woman who recorded an arrest on her cell phone while in Whistler Village on Nov. 19, 2016. She told CBC that when officers saw her shooting video, they confiscated her phone. She was arrested when she refused to provide her passcode.
"The report will be reviewed and a decision rendered," LeClair said. "It's a fairly lengthy report, so I suspect it's going to take the Officer in Charge some time to go through it."
Police are legally permitted to seize cellular phones and other recording devices if they are thought to contain evidence that is not available otherwise, although it's unclear what evidence, if any, the woman's phone would have contained as the incident was described.
Police can conduct a limited search of a phone without a warrant provided the search is incidental to a lawful arrest and officers have an "objectively reasonable" reason to do so. Authorities must also make detailed notes of what they looked at on the device as well as how it was searched.
Whether a phone is password-protected or not is irrelevant, according to a 2014 Supreme Court ruling, although a suspect has the right to remain silent during an arrest and could choose not to give out their passcode.
Police stop fight at village nightclub
On Feb. 16 around 2 a.m., police responded to fight at a village nightclub where one man had allegedly smashed a bottle over the head of another man.
The men had been separated by the time police arrived.
"They spoke to one of the males who had been sitting outside," LeClair explained.
"He was tending to his injuries that he sustained from the beer bottle. The officers spoke with the other male and identified him. In speaking with multiple witnesses, police gathered that there had been an altercation between the two inside the club. The male with the beer bottle injury had head-butted the other male and that caused the other male to retaliate by smashing a bottle over the first male's head."
The man who allegedly smashed the bottle, a 24-year-old Whistler man, was arrested for assault with a weapon and released on a promise to appear. While the or other man was intoxicated, uncooperative and declined to provide a statement to press charges, charges still may be forthcoming.
"The suspect was transported to the Whistler detachment for processing. He was interviewed and admitted to the offence," LeClair said. "The officers will do a report to Crown counsel and Crown will determine whether or not they'll proceed with charges. Just because the victim is not willing to proceed with charges doesn't mean we just let it go because we don't want to see this guy continue this behaviour and hurt somebody else."
Paramedics treated the man hit by the bottle. He will not face charges.
Man allegedly assaulted at village pub
On Feb. 16 around 10:45 p.m., police responded to a report that a man had been assaulted at a village pub.
The complainant said her boyfriend had allegedly been struck with a bottle, though no witnesses recalled seeing a bottle.
A friend of the victim had been dancing with a woman on the dance floor, which upset another man.
"The suspect then approached them and said 'You're dancing with my girl.' The suspect then punched the friend of the victim and then the victim stepped in and got hit with a second punch," LeClair said, adding the victim was unsure of how he got hurt.
The suspect left the bar with a group of five other friends. He is described as a Caucasian male with curly hair, about 25 years old standing 6-1 with a medium to heavy build. He was wearing a red plaid jacket, white shirt and a ball cap. There was no video footage inside the establishment, but police are seeking outside footage as the investigation continues.
The victim was taken to the Whistler Health Care Centre where he received medical attention for a laceration above his right eye and a two-inch vertical cut on the right side of his nose.
Urinating San Francisco woman arrested
The feeling of relief was short-lived for a San Francisco woman arrested in Whistler Village.
Around 1:48 a.m. on Feb. 20, officers on foot patrol spotted the woman urinating in front of a pub in Village Square. The woman provided a valid American passport and was given a municipal ticket for public urination.
Officers told the woman and her sober boyfriend that she was too intoxicated to be in public. As they walked to the taxi loop, she pulled away from her boyfriend and stumbled away. An officer started to arrest her for causing a disturbance, but the woman resisted by pulling away.
"She was taken to the ground and she kicked at the officers repeatedly, but didn't connect with any of those kicks and she was successfully arrested," LeClair said. "She also kicked the inside of the police car extensively, but didn't cause any damage."
The 25-year-old woman was held until she was sober and then given a ticket for public intoxication.
Woman arrested for suspected cocaine possession
Officers on foot patrol in the village spotted some suspicious behaviour on Feb. 17.
Around 1 a.m., the officers saw two women sitting on the ground outside of a business. They approached and saw one of the women concealing an item in her hand and put it behind her back.
"The officer formed grounds that the female was in possession of a controlled substance, told her to hold out her hand and advised her that she was under arrest. She started apologizing and dropped the item to the ground," LeClair said.
The item was a one-inch square baggie with a white powder, believed to be cocaine, inside. The 31-year-old Australian woman living in Whistler was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and handcuffed, walked back to the detachment and released on a promise to appear in court in North Vancouver on March 29. The other woman was not arrested, as she was not in possession of any drugs.
Man arrested for breaching parole at nightclub
Just after midnight on Feb. 18, officers entered a nightclub searching for a man to find evidence of him breaking the conditions of his parole, which included not consuming alcohol.
Officers spotted the man and he put his hands behind his back. They continued to watch him from a distance.
"Around 12:50 a.m., they observed him with a dark brown bottle of beer in his hand, bring the bottle to his lips and tip it up to drink from it," LeClair said. "The officers quickly approached, observed the male hide the bottle behind his back in the same manner as before."
The 24-year-old Australian male living in Whistler was arrested, taken back to the detachment and placed in a cell. He was held for a justice of the peace hearing, the results of which were not available.
Pemberton vacation home broken into
Around noon on Feb. 18, a man called Pemberton RCMP to report that his vacation home on Pemberton Meadows Road had been broken into. The home had previously been broken into.
This time, the point of entry appeared to be a hatch in the carport that had been broken open. The only items disturbed were some liquor bottles.
The investigation is ongoing.
Residents hear suspicious noise in Whistler home
On Feb. 18 at approximately 11:30 p.m., a complainant called Whistler RCMP to report that her daughter and a friend heard the door open at their residence in the 1600 block of Piccolo Drive.
The complainant believed somebody came in and left when confronted, and said there were footprints in the driveway, though the suspect appeared to have then travelled east into the bushes.
Police observed the fresh prints in the snow but could not find any leaving the residence. They searched the bushes, but noted the snow was not disturbed in that area.
Alta Vista resident halts attempted break-in
A woman in Alta Vista reported an attempted break-in to police on Feb. 19.
The incident happened around 1 p.m. on Feb. 13 in the 1300 block of Archibald Way.
"The complainant interrupted the event as she went to leave the residence with her dog and surprised two Caucasian males who had just opened the porch door," LeClair said. "Everybody appeared startled, the complainant grabbed a fire poker and the dog started to growl at the two males. She started to question the two males about what they were doing there and they asked if she was the property owner and if she knew a guy named Ben."
The men then left the residence and drove away in a small rusty red, maroon or burgundy pickup truck.
