City of Victoria ramps up parkade security after needle found taped to handrail

The City of Victoria says it's reviewing communications among its staff after a widely shared Facebook post over the weekend alerted the public to a syringe with a needle found taped to a handrail in a city parkade.

Police said a security guard discovered the needle on the evening of April 17 in the Yates Street Parkade, but it only became public online this week.

Sam Hollington said he took a photo of the picture shown to him by the security guard.

"He found it while on patrol underneath the stairs' handrail," Hollington wrote on Facebook. "Not sure if it was infected with anything or not but just beware that this is happening in our city."

Thomas Soulliere, director of parks, recreation and facilities, told a news conference Tuesday he had only learned about the incident the day before.

When asked whether that was acceptable, he responded: "No, it is not."

Police said security photographed and removed the needle after finding it. The city-contracted security company filed a report with police the next day.

The city conducted extra sweeps of its five parkades, including inspections of all its stairwells. No other needles were found.

"Fortunately, nobody was injured or has come forward with any injuries related to this particular incident," Soulliere said.

Soulliere said city staff are now reviewing whether they should have notified the public sooner. Const. Matt Rutherford with the Victoria Police Department said it was a one-time offence.

"It's something we take seriously when reported," Rutherford said. "But we also have to look at multiple events and there were not multiple events reported to us."

"We encourage people that do find needles that they believe are placed there maliciously to call us. Don't touch them. Allow us to come and conduct our proper investigation," he added.

The city said the parkade was not equipped with cameras, but its security team is reviewing footage from other locations. Staff conducts hourly sweeps of the parkade 24/7.

Police are asking anyone with information to call them at 250-995-7654 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.