Police blitz targeting large parties coming to Mississauga

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Published July 30, 2020 at 9:10 pm

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Although the Region of Peel (Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon) will be moving into Stage 3 on Friday, July 31, Peel Regional Police plan to keep a close eye on any large house parties that defy provincial restrictions on indoor gatherings of more than 50 people and outdoor gatherings of more than 100. 

At a July 29 press conference, Peel police Deputy Chief Marc Andrews said that police are implementing a “robust strategy” to deal with large parties in Brampton and Mississauga.

His announcement came just days after police were called to break up a party of approximately 200 people at a home in the Countryside Drive and Goreway Road area in Brampton. 

The party, which took place on July 25, occurred while the region was still in Stage 2. At the time of the incident, social gatherings in the region were limited to no more than 10 people. 

“I want to emphasize that there are 600,000 plus residents of Brampton and the citizens of our community, my fellow Bramptonians, have been very responsible and behaved in a very compliant manner over the course of this entire pandemic,” Andrews told reporters.

“That shouldn’t be lost on [us] because of the behaviour of a few [hundred] over the past weekend, so we are working closely to build out a robust strategy for dealing with large-scale parties.”

Andrews said that while he’s hoping police won’t have to take action, the strategy will be there in the event that police have to enforce the rules or educate residents when necessary. 

“When we interact with our community in these settings, we use it as a teachable moment as well and that has been a strategy to deescalate the situation, not to make them into or more dynamic than they already are.”

Andrews also said the blitz will target street racing and the operation of unusually noisy vehicles. 

“The large parties are one aspect of community safety, but we also need to focus on road safety,” he said, adding that road racing teams have already issued 12,145 tickets over the course of the last several weeks.

Andrews also said that RIDE will be out in “full force.”

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