(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)

A melee at the Cobia Salon in Kamloops wasn't initially considered a priority by local Mounties but it's being investigated now, as is the way RCMP initially responded to the complaint.

Kamloops RCMP received a call May 19, at approximately 5:12 p.m., for service reporting a “disturbance” and requesting “police in the area” at a salon on the 1300-block of Summit Drive.

In a press release from the Mounties, they say the information relayed to officers involved a woman who had allegedly put items into her bag, got upset, threw them, and was walking away from the business. The time delay in reporting was five minutes.

Due to priority calls, based on what was reported and the fact that the accused had already left and no one was injured, police were not dispatched to the call until much later, as they were dealing with other higher priority calls. By the time an officer was dispatched to the report, the salon was unfortunately closed.

“Since then, police have been conducting investigative follow-up, which has included a review of the audio call reporting the incident and a review of the investigation to date,” Insp. Jeff Pelley, Officer in Charge of Operations, Kamloops RCMP said in a press release.

“During that review, several people can be heard talking in the background, one of which indicates a potential assault was involved. The reporting of an assault should have increased the prioritization of the call and required a more-timely response.”

Police said they have been in contact with the salon to conduct more investigative follow-up.

"So far, the reported victims have indicated they do not wish to pursue criminal charges with our investigation continuing," RCMP said in the release. "A full review regarding the response and what led to its lower prioritization in the dispatch queue is also being conducted."

In the press release, RCMP go to the effort to address one story that was released over the weekend by an online Kamloops news outlet. They wanted to draw attention to one of the story's sources, saying the RCMP deemed the case as “unimportant and told her the police had more important things to do."

“We would like to assure the salon employees and the public that this is in fact not the case and this was an unfortunate misunderstanding of the incident initially reported,” Pelley said.

Anyone who witnessed this incident or has more information that could assist in the investigation is asked to please contact Kamloops RCMP at 250-828-3000 and reference file 2021-16411.

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