Yellowknife (Apr 12/06) - A 44-year-old male faces criminal charges after swinging a grocery bag containing rolls and an orange at an individual.

He will appear in Yellowknife territorial court to face a charge of assault with a weapon.

Yellowknife RCMP Const. Colleen Werrell said the April 9 incident started at a downtown grocery store as a shoplifting incident.

Six drug investigations

Yellowknife RCMP investigated six drug-related incidents during the past week.

No charges have been laid.

"Some of those are still under investigation," Werrell said.

She said calls are often received by the RCMP about suspicious persons or activities, at which time they are investigated.

"When we go and check it out, it comes back that it's not the case."

Public drunkenness

Yellowknife RCMP were called to address 96 drunk in public complaints over the past week.

Of those, 37 were disturbing the peace, 27 were liquor act complaints and 32 were mischief complaints.

Charge of assault

Yellowknife RCMP were called to investigate eight assaults last week.

As a result, one charge was laid against a 25-year-old male. A court date has not been set.

Two of the assaults are still under investigation, two were unfounded and in two instances, the complainants did not want to lay charges.

Business break-ins

Two businesses were broken into during the past week, Werrell says.

One break-in was reported at the CKLB Radio station on April 4. The door was kicked in, but nothing was stolen.

The other break-in was reported at the Dettah community centre between April 5 and 6. The suspect entered, but there was no damage.

Police are continuing the investigation.

Tread carefully on roads

Werrell is advising people to use extreme caution when travelling off the roads or on city streets.

"Especially with the ice rain and milder weather it's quite slippery and quite treacherous."

Werrell also advises motorists to watch for road reports on ice road travel.

"Pay attention to road closures. If a road has been closed, don't travel on it."

Crime watch

During the two-week period between March 27 and April 10, the Yellowknife RCMP detachment received 253 calls to service.

There were 18 assaults reported, as well as one assault with a weapon.

The RCMP received 64 complaints of mischief.

Seven businesses were reported broken into, as were three residences. There was one call of a break-in to an unspecified location, as well as three reports of people unlawfully being in a dwelling house.

There were 10 thefts under $5,000 reported, as well as six cases of shoplifting. Three vehicles as well as one motorcycle were reported stolen.

Two cases of counterfeit money were received.

There were four calls regarding drugs, two of which were cocaine trafficking incidents.

The following is a break down of the calls received:

Common police activities