Police delayed response to incident at Baronā Street children's playground where father was threatened with knife
The State Police has apologised for a delayed arrival at Baronā Street children's playground, where on 6 October a father and daughter were surrounded by a group of youths armed with a knife.
Police acknowledge shortcomings following knife incident at Baronā Street playground
The State Police has apologised to a father who on 6 October in Riga at Krišjāņa Baronā Street children's playground waited for more than two hours for law enforcement after he and his daughter were surrounded by a group of youths in possession of a knife. As jauns.lv reports, the police acknowledge that shortcomings occurred in the handling of the call-out.
"On the day the call-out was received there was a large volume of calls from residents, and moreover, in certain stages of information reception regarding the incident at Krišjāņa Baronā Street playground, shortcomings were permitted in the registration of information," the State Police explained in a statement.
The authority states that precisely because of these shortcomings, law enforcement arrived at the scene after a considerable time, when those involved had already left. The State Police has announced that it will take measures to improve work organisation, as well as "apologise to the victim for the situation that arose".
Account from a Riga resident
The incident was initially reported by Riga resident Rafiks, who shared his experience on "Facebook". He described how at approximately 20.00 he was together with his daughter at the aforementioned children's playground when he noticed a noisy group of teenagers who were swearing loudly.
Rafiks indicates that he twice asked the youths to behave appropriately, taking into account that they were at a children's playground. On the third occasion the situation escalated — an adult youth from the group moved aggressively towards him, and Rafiks struck him with his fist. Shortly afterwards one of the teenagers ran up with a knife, attempting to hand it to the adult youth.
"The situation became even more serious when one of the teenagers ran up with a knife and tried to hand it to this adult youth. I immediately told him to put the knife away," Rafiks recalls.
More than two hours without police response
At approximately 20.15 Rafiks went to the children's playground administration and asked them to call the police. However, over the following half hour law enforcement did not arrive. On calling repeatedly, he was told that "there are other call-outs and you need to wait in line" — despite the information about the knife and the fact that the group of youths was preventing him and his daughter from going home.
After approximately 40 minutes Rafiks called again, but received the same response. At approximately 22.10 the police still had not arrived. The man asked his wife to come and collect his daughter, but remained himself to wait. According to him, the police did not contact him until he published his account.
Departmental investigation commenced
The State Police has currently made contact with the person who made the call-out. In connection with the incident that occurred, a departmental investigation has been commenced and those involved are being clarified. The authority has also announced that following the incident it will intensify patrols in the area around Baronā Street.
Rafiks later established that the group of teenagers in question frequents the playground regularly. The man stated that he will contact the police again, and has urged parents to be cautious when visiting this and other public children's playgrounds.
"The main question here is not about my wasted time. The main question is children's safety — everything happened at a children's playground, and there was a knife during the conflict," Rafiks has emphasised.
Source: Google News LV — Crime (lv)