EDMONTON — The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) is searching for information that could help identify a suspect in a sexual assault.

According to police, a man followed a 15-year-old girl into a retail store in the area of Terwillegar Drive and Windermere Boulevard on Aug. 27 around 6 p.m.

EPS says the man approached the girl from behind and lifted her skirt. Police believe the man then fled the store and drove away in a white truck.

A photo of the vehicle police believe the suspect drove away in (Supplied/EPS)

Anyone with information about the incident or the identity of the suspect is asked to contact police at 780-423-4567 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

EDMONTON — Public health experts are wondering why Alberta is choosing to dish out $100 to those who decide to get vaccinated now and whether the measure will effectively respond to a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Premier Jason Kenney announced the vaccine incentive Friday, saying the government was inspired by the success of similar measures in other jurisdictions.

Lorian Hardcastle, University of Calgary associate professor in the Cummings School of Medicine, said monetary incentives are not a sure-fire way to drive vaccination.

“It’s not clear how many people will respond to that $100 monetary incentive,” she said. “On the one hand it could motivate some small subset of people to get vaccinated.

“On the other hand though, I think it fuels frustration and the increasing divide between those who are vaccinated and those who aren’t,” Hardcastle added. “People who got vaccinated are very resentful that those who didn’t, who chose not to, are now getting paid to get vaccinated.”

Dr. Craig Jenne, University of Calgary associate professor in the department of microbiology, immunology, and infectious disease, echoed Hardcastle’s scepticism over the monetary incentives.

“It’s not clear how effective this will be,” Jenne said. “We need to get nearly 10 per cent more people vaccinated and it’s not clear that this will do it.

“The premier pointed out Colorado using this approach to drive vaccine rates up. I recently checked Colorado’s vaccine status and they’re about 15 per cent behind us,” he added.

In Jenne’s view, the incentive program is a long-term strategy that should have been introduced in advance of the fourth wave and not when cases are spiking.

“We are still looking at nearly two months before we would recognize that community protection,” he said. “Somebody signing up for a vaccine today will not have full immunity until they get their second dose a few weeks later and then wait a couple of weeks after that.

“So this is not a quick fix, this will not slow viral spread in the community today, tomorrow, or next week. This is really a long game.”

For Hardcastle, bringing back a provincial mask mandate represents a bare minimum. She worries that the measures, including ending alcohol service at 10 p.m., are being implemented too late.

“They waited until hospitals were already under really significant strain before implementing measures,” she said. “Many of the initiatives that were announced are voluntary in nature.

“For example, asking unvaccinated people to not have social gatherings I think will have very limited, if any, effects. Those people are already unwilling to get vaccinated. Perhaps they feel they’re at low risk or don’t worry about contracting COVID so it’s not clear why they would choose to not have gatherings if they don’t perceive their risk as significant.”

Jenne said the province needs to implement measures that will have an impact today to slow spread and give hospitals a chance to recover.

“If the health-care burden is at a crisis point, we need to do something today to slow that spread,” he said. “We are seeing, unfortunately, rapid growth that is not showing any signs of slowing. If these measures do not impact the daily case count, in the next couple of weeks we may need to implement further measures.”

In Hardcastle’s view, one of the most effective public health measure that the province could have implemented was a vaccine passport.

“Some other jurisdictions, both in Canada and abroad, when they announced that only those who were vaccinated could attend certain businesses and services, vaccine rates there went up,” she said. “So I’m surprised to see our government continuing to dig their heels in on not making vaccines mandatory to go certain places.

“This is a government that has tried to walk the middle line throughout the pandemic and has tried to please both sides by having some measures in place, but measures that aren’t so strict as to alienate their political base,” the law professor added.

“By walking that middle line, they’ve really ended up both pleasing no one and also not been as effective as they could have been at managing the pandemic.”

EDMONTON — Edmonton Fire Rescue Services (EFRS) welcomed its youngest crew member, trained to investigate with his nose.

Marshal is a 21-month-old Belgian Malinois and EFRS’ newest working K9 trained to sniff out ignitable liquids like gasoline.

“He’s really important to Edmonton Fire Rescue Services, he comes to pretty much any fire where we believe there’s an ignitable liquid that he might be able to find,” said Cpt. Ian Smith with Edmonton Fire Rescue Services.

Smith is Marshal’s K9 handler and began working with the four-legged investigator in June. Since then, he says they’ve already built a strong bond.

“Every time we go and train or if we go to a new scene, we seem to get closer and closer all the time. I trust what he’s doing, he trusts me, and we have a pretty good working relationship,” said Smith.

Marshal is one of nine puppies from a litter raised by Alberta K9, a centre which specializing in training dogs to work in roles such as detection, security, and policing.

While Marshal’s name is perfectly suited for his job, his past owners say it was merely just a coincidence.

“It just so happened that Marshals name ended up being Fire Marshal, we didn’t know where he was going to go, the stars just aligned, and that’s where he ended up,” said Kelsey Boettcher, owner of Alberta K9.

Marshal began training shortly after birth with scent association, a process that pairs ignitable liquid and food scents together, so he can associate the smell with reward.

“We teach through scent association, he’s looking for a toy or food – in Marshals case, it’s food all the time – and that’s what he loves to do,” explained Boettcher.

He is the first working K9 trained based on food reward to be used by the EFRS.

On scene, Marshal is suited up with a special vest, letting him know it’s time to get to work. Fire crews then watch for a change in Marshal’s behaviour.

“You’ll see his tail wag,” said Smith. “He might kind of swing his head back and forth until he gets to an area where he knows there’s an ignitable liquid.”

EFRS’ youngest investigator can detect the smell of 12 different ignitable liquids. Smith says while there are machines that can detect ignitable liquids, none compare to a trained dog’s nose.

“A dog’s nose is more than 10 thousand times stronger than a human’s,” said Smith. “I have a whole new appreciation for their talents and what they can do. I’ve had pet dogs before, but having a working K9 is pretty special.”

The career of working K9s can last anywhere between 5 and 7 years, and Marshal’s skills are only expected to strengthen in the coming years. 

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s David Ewasuk

EDMONTON — A motorcyclist sustained non-life threatening injuries Friday after an accident with an SUV.

Officers responded to a crash in the area of 153 Avenue and 82 Street around 3:20 p.m. Friday involving a Toyota Highlander.

The 35-year-old man driving the motorcycle was taken to hospital by EMS with non-life threatening injuries. The 52-year-old driver of the Highlander was not injured.

That intersection was closed for several hours as police investigated.

Anyone with information about the crash or who may have footage of it, is asked to contact police at 780-423-4567 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. 

EDMONTON — Alberta reported 1,401 new COVID-19 cases and another increase in hospitalizations as the government implemented new restrictions on Friday.

The latest numbers show 515 coronavirus patients in hospital, the highest since May 27.

Included in that 515 are 118 patients in intensive care units.

Those who have not received a shot continue to drive new cases and severe outcomes. More than 73 per cent of those in ICU are unvaccinated, as are close to 88 per cent of those in hospital.

Also Friday, two more deaths were reported to bring the Alberta’s pandemic death toll to 2,390.

The province’s active case count rose to over 13,000 for the first time since May 23.

Among eligible Albertans, 78.3 per cent have received a first dose of vaccine and 70.2 per cent have had two doses.

The next data update is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon due to the Labour Day long weekend and will include data from Friday, Saturday, Sunday and the holiday Monday. 

REINTRODUCED RESTRICTIONS

The recent rise in deaths, hospitalizations and new cases has forced the province to reintroduce a number of public health restrictions. 

Earlier Friday, Premier Jason Kenney announced Alberta is reinstating measures it got rid of just two months ago as well as offering a $100 vaccination incentive. 

Starting Saturday, masks will be mandatory across the province in all indoor public and work spaces. Schools will continue to set their own policies.

Licensed businesses will be required to end alcohol service at 10 p.m.

And, Alberta will pay unvaccinated residents $100 to get the COVID-19 shot.

Also Friday, Alberta Health Services announced it was delaying surgeries across the province as hospitals struggle with COVID-19-caused capacity issues.

With files from Alex Antoneshyn and Diego Romero