Crime statistics contradict last year’s decline

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

Veering off the propitious decline in criminal activity revealed last year, residential property crime and mischiefs of vehicles are on an alarming climb, leaving law enforcement baffled for an explanation.
Staff Sgt. Steve Vince provided an update to town council on March 2 that indicated numbers weren’t falling as had been experienced the previous year.
While crimes against persons continued on a downward trend, property crimes rose to 783 criminal reports by the end of 2015, from 601 for the 2014 year.
“That is quite a jump in the last little while for us,” said Vince.
“Unfortunately things seemed to have caught up, and we are over what we have seen in the past year and, unfortunately, the past several years. We’re seeing the same trend on the rural side… the increase on that rural side is actually more dramatic than what it is in town. What contributes to that, your guess is as good as mine at this point.”
Vince speculated that some of the increases in property crimes may be attributed to overflow from the Calgary area, and the fluctuating patterns of jailing and releasing repeat offenders. In regards to the economy, the official stated more research is required to draw such conclusions.
“We have half a dozen of our usual groups that come in and out of jail, and of course also see slight spikes and slight dips depending on if they’re in jail or not,” said Vince.
“I know a lot of people are speculating whether it has to do with the poor economy or not. There are too many other factors to lump it to one thing and blame it on that so quickly. We always have spikes and lows, and hopefully this is just one of those.”
While council was not provided with the current statistics for the 2015 calendar year, the report during last week’s regular council meeting further included discussion on the issue of impaired drivers and supplied an update about the Enhanced Traffic Program. The pilot program, which has been in effect for a full calendar year, was said to be self-sustainable and averaged 70 violation tickets per month. The program was initially implemented for six months, which revealed a greater RCMP presence in the community, a decline in collisions and break-and-enters, and hundreds of violations. Since then, the detachment offered members from outlining areas to participate in covering shifts – a situation that hasn’t happened yet. With 15 municipally-funded officers on active duty, and nearly 10 officers in the rural areas, all positions are currently occupied. The Enhanced Traffic Program will come up for review in April. Councillor Bob Sobol also inquired about impaired driving, which Vince stated had posed a challenge as some impaired driving charges had been withdrawn province-wide as a result of a lack of documentation from a private company regarding the maintenance of breathalyzer equipment.
Council asked to be provided with the current statistics and a full report regarding the Enhanced Traffic Program.