Police were busy Halloween

Halloween proved to be a busy night for York Regional Police, as officers were responding to various calls.

Between 7 a.m. last Wednesday and 7 a.m. Thursday, police responded to more than 1,400 calls, including numerous nuisance calls, reports of egging of homes and vehicles and 10 reports of street-level robberies; three in Aurora, five in Richmond Hill, one Markham and one in Vaughan. In these incidents, victims were approached by suspects unknown to them who demanded money or Halloween candy while threatening the victim with violence. Two of the robberies involved knives, one involved a paint-ball gun and the other a BB gun. None of the victims in the robberies suffered injuries.

In one incident officers were called to a home in Georgina for a report of candy that had a strange odour. After investigation it was determined that there was no concern to be had and the candy was fine for consumption.

Earlier in the week, officers from the Community Oriented Response Units, the Traffic Enforcement Bureau and the Air Support Unit, as well as uniform officers, were out on foot, bicycles and vehicles conducting extra patrols on residential streets and in parks, plazas and schools, in an effort to reduce Halloween-related crime. Officers working in the Traffic Bureau conducted a Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) spot check, in the area of Bayview Avenue and North Lake Road and stopped more than 950 vehicles. As a result of the spot check, nine people were asked to perform a roadside tests but no one was arrested for impaired driving as a result of the checks.