Staff Sergeant Phil Wilson made an appearance at Battleford town council April 16, to break down crime statistics for the first quarter of 2012.
In general, numbers were up. Person offences were up dramatically, from seven (with no youth involvement) in the first quarter of 2011 to 21 (with three involving youth) in the last three months.
Property offences also showed a considerable increase, from 32 to 41. Criminal code offences, drug offences, and traffic offences also saw similar rises, from 11 to 20, one to 17 and 44 to 60, respectively. The only drops recorded in the statistics were extremely minor - liquor act offences dropped from three to zero, for example. Over three years, almost all statistics have risen.
Wilson, however, argued many of the numbers were not evidence of an increase in crime so much as an increase in patrols and traffic projects. Wilson singled out traffic and drug offences in particular as categories that saw rises more due more to police work than crime.
The increase in person and property offences could not be attributed to increased police work, and Wilson explained the increase as being connected to the "lifestyle" of substance abuse.
At the prompting of Councillor Bill Halewich, council briefly discussed the viability of installing police cameras at major intersections, but the idea was not received enthusiastically, in part because the police already use security camera footage when they need to.
