It seems Battleford is not being spared from an uptick in crime seen in other parts of the province.
Final crime statistics for the year 2015 were presented to town council at their meeting Monday night, and numbers were up generally across the board.
For the year through December, there were 1,033 calls for service, up from 976 the previous year.
As well, most categories saw small increases for the year. The largest jumps were in criminal code offences, which were up from 48 to 93, and property offences, which were up from 245 to 273.
Also rising were person offences from 84 to 90, business break and enter from eight to 10, residential break and enter from 12 to 14, drug offences up from eight to 14 and provincial traffic offences up from 113 to 144.
Motor vehicle collisions were also up from 15 to 22.
The decreases came in impaired operation of a motor vehicle, down from 29 to 19, and in liquor acts from 24 to 21. Municipal bylaw offences were also down from 17 to 16.
Also presented were fourth quarter RCMP statistics and they showed a similar pattern to the yearly numbers. Property offences saw a jump from 50 to 79 over the same period in 2014, and criminal code offences were up from 12 to 23. Person offences also went up from 14 to 20, drug offences up from one to six and residential break and enters up from one to seven. There were two business break and enters, five liquor act offences and 30 provincial traffic offences, which is up from 15.
The numbers were presented by Sgt. Carl Dinsdale of the Battlefords RCMP rural detachment, who noted there were minor increases across the board, including property offences in particular.
The one thing he’s noticed in particular was an increase in “car-shoppers” — youth going around the streets late at night trying to open cars and steal items inside.
He noted a couple of young people were caught in the act in Battleford. One got away, but the other was in custody for going through cars and also going into a garage, he said.
“They’re out there,” Dinsdale said, with his message to the public being “you have to lock up your stuff.”
He encouraged people to watch out for their property and property of their neighbours and to call the RCMP if they see trouble.
Dinsdale also spoke about some other activities involving the RCMP this past quarter, including the recent trip to Vancouver’s East Hastings with the Battlefords North Stars to see first-hand the issue of substance abuse.
He also spoke of the continued moves towards intelligence-led policing by the detachment. “We’re trying to get to a point where we can direct our efforts to preventative work,” said Dinsdale.
“We want to get to a point where we’re being more preventive more than reactive.”
