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Liquor seized from 'problem' group

Police Briefs: Surrey teen found with knife; Shoeless man doesn't learn his lesson
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Police kept a close eye on a "problem" group of 20-year-olds from the Vancouver area this May long weekend that kept popping up on Mounties' radar. The group's first run-in with the law came early Saturday morning when police were tipped off to a vehicle on Northlands Boulevard that was "surrounded by beer cans," Staff Sgt. Steve LeClair said.

A search of the vehicle turned up a staggering amount of alcohol: four 36-packs of beers, an 18-bottle case of beer, a mini keg of beer, a bottle of rum, two bottles of vodka, two bottles of tequila, and a bottle of whiskey.

Later that night, three males from the group were arrested in front of a village nightclub for fighting with door staff, police said. A fourth male was also arrested for breach of the peace after refusing to leave the front of the Whistler RCMP detachment.

Weapon charge for Surrey teen

A 17-year-old Surrey male is facing weapon charges after a knife he was carrying fell from his pocket in front of a group of plainclothes officers.

On Friday night, police observed two groups of males "running around" the village before the teen dropped the weapon, said LeClair.

A second, separate weapon charge was ultimately dropped for a 17-year-old Delta male after a search subsequent to a drinking-in-public arrest uncovered a can of bear spray.

"He's not facing charges, but he spent about nine-and-a-half hours in cells waiting for his parents to come and get him," LeClair added.

Shoeless Coquitlam teen arrested twice on same day

Police said a 19-year-old Coquitlam didn't "learn his lesson" after being arrested for public intoxication only to be found drunkenly wandering the village mere hours later.

Just after 2:30 a.m. on May 22, police were tipped off to a man carrying a stolen fire extinguisher on the Village Stroll. When officers caught up with the man, he had ditched the fire extinguisher into some nearby bushes and was "obviously intoxicated, speaking nonsensically and had foam around his mouth," LeClair said.

After being arrested for public intoxication, Mounties found a bag of suspected cocaine in his pants. The teen was released that morning on conditions not to consume alcohol.

Then, just before 8:30 p.m the same day, officers on foot patrol in the village observed the man "asking strangers random questions about his friend's location and if they had a cellphone charger," explained LeClair.

Mounties approached the male, who they said was visibly intoxicated and possibly under the influence of drugs. Notably, he was not wearing shoes, had no identification, and apparently tried to retrieve his bankcard from an ATM he had not used, police said.

When officers took the man back to the hotel he was staying at, he remembered that he had already checked out. He is now facing multiple charges for public intoxication, drug possession and breaching his conditions.

May long weekend by the numbers

By every major measure, Whistler's historically rowdy May long weekend shaped up to be pretty tame in 2016.

Police managed to cut calls for service by more than half, with 79 callouts compared to 169 last year, and only lodged a total of 21 people in cells for a variety of mostly minor offences.

On Friday, six people were detained for offences ranging from weapon possession to public intoxication. The following day officers held eight individuals in custody. Those offences included the arrest of three 20-year-old Vancouver males for fighting door staff at a local nightclub and an obstruction charge for a 31-year-old Australian man living in Whistler for failing to cooperate with police after he was caught with open liquor.

Seven people were lodged in cells on Monday, including a 19-year-old Coquitlam male who was arrested only hours earlier for public intoxication and violated his release conditions by consuming alcohol. (See above.)