For those working in emergency services, and for the general public, the best one can hope for is a boring, uneventful year.
S. Sgt. Phil Wilson, presenting the statistics for the last quarter of 2011 in Battleford, was happy to present just such a year.
Yearly crime levels were generally up, with the calls for service increasing from 842 in 2010 to 1,111 in 2011. The bulk of these increases, however, came from provincial traffic offences rather than from high-profile, dangerous cases. Last year saw a total of 184 traffic offenses, which skyrocketed to 416 in 2011. Without the increase in traffic offenses, the total number of calls for service for 2011 is almost identical to the number for 2010 - an encouraging sign, Wilson said.
Quarterly statistics were also encouraging. As with the yearly statistics, provincial traffic offenses saw the bulk of the increases, going from 48 in 2010 to 167 in 2011. Wilson explained that increased police presence was a factor in the increased number of traffic offences caught by the RCMP.
"The more presence we have in the community, the more traffic offences we're going to stumble across," he said.
But the Highway 4 twinning project, with its lowered speed limit of 60 km/h is also likely a factor.
Speaking about the new cellphone law, Wilson explained that officers in marked police cars rarely see drivers using cell phones.
"I know what I would do if I were on a phone and I saw a police car - I'd drop the thing. We do catch people occasionally, and if we're out there in an unmarked car, we're definitely writing tickets, but I don't have the numbers."
Drug offenses also saw a small rise, from four to 13, but Wilson explained the difference was made up by "self-generated work" by the RCMP rather than by an increasing prevalence of drug offences themselves.
Otherwise, almost all crime statistics were similar to the previous year. When provincial traffic offenses are removed from the total, the fourth quarter of 2010 saw 127 calls for service, which increased to 148 in 2011. With the exception of drug offenses and provincial traffic offenses, all other categories failed to show a marked increase or decrease.
Break and enters decreased from five to one, while impaired operation of a motor vehicle offenses increased from six to 12. Youth involvement in crimes was also similar to last year, with no categories showing a marked increase or decrease.
