After the death of an OPP officer last week, police officers are looking at just how their interactions with suspects have been changing.

While that can include fatal incidents like the situation in Bourget, which saw two other officers injured,  other communities are looking at less compliance during arrests.

That includes Estevan, with Police Chief Rich Lowen saying they've seen a bit more non-compliance so far this year.

"We have seen an increase in charges like resisting arrest, where it becomes more difficult for our officers, to have to use greater levels of force. So at the same time last year, between January to May and last year, we had one charge. Now January to May of this year, we've had five charges of resisting arrest. So you can see a tendency of those things to creep in."

Lowen says it's hard to pin down any specific cause for what seems to be a change in attitude, with solutions also being varied.

"It's a bigger problem than just one specific incident. There's a number of factors that weigh into it, everything from addictions to mental health to reforms that we're asking for in terms of bail, everything from the influx of handguns, you name it. We get influenced by our communities to the south of us in the US, the social media connections that people can make, and the influence that people have from extremism all over the world. So it's a bigger problem than just saying that's one specific reason."

"The solutions are definitely mixed. Everything from health care to bail reform. So we have repeatedly asked for reforms on how people are held in custody or released on bail and the supervision that follows that. So those all have impacts on the safety of our officers."

Even if officers do encounter more and more resistance, they're still committed to training methods that involve de-escalating situations.

"We always train for de-escalation and that's our goal, to de-escalate the level of force that we use and to try and reduce any injuries on the offenders as well as our officers. So that's something we continue to train on."  

Lowen says that Estevan is a great place to police in, thanks to the local community.

"Our officers do a good job. Our community is relatively safe. We really do have a really good neighborhood here and a good police family here, they're very well supported. Our officers are supported by all the people in the community."