The crime numbers in May continued with the steady downward trend that has been going on throughout 2014.
Calls for service for the month are down significantly to 993, compared to 1,663 for the same month a year ago.
Moreover, the various categories are all seeing declines across the board in person offences, break and enters, drug offences, impaired operation of a motor vehicle and provincial traffic offences, among others.
The only notable increase for the year is a 50 per cent increase in Liquor Act offences, from 113 to 170. The offences were also up for the month from 27 in May 2013 to 45 in May 2014.
However, Sgt. Neil Tremblay, appearing in place of Insp. John Sutherland who was out of the province Monday, noted a stepped-up enforcement by RCMP members on Liquor Act and disturbing the peace offences is one reason behind the increase in the numbers.
Tremblay noted the RCMP has been increasing visibility downtown to "deal with some of the oft-recurring issues we have downtown with intoxicated individuals causing a disturbance."
In response to a question from Ryan Bater about what is being done differently, Tremblay noted a traffic member was moved over to focus on increasing the presence downtown and being more proactive in the target areas. Foot patrols are also being stepped up.
Overall, Tremblay cited the continuing miserable weather conditions as one reason for the significant decline in calls for service.
"It has not been a terribly pleasant year in terms of the climate, so certainly that will have an effect on call volume."
However, he also pointed to other factors and said that "sometimes putting the right three or four people in jail" could impact on the crime rates.
Mayor Ian Hamilton concurred, observing that it "demonstrates how much havoc a very small percentage of people can create."
Despite the good overall numbers, there remained some trouble areas and one of them is property crime.
While that category saw a decline for the month of May from 301 to 241, Tremblay noted they were seeing continued issues with thefts from vehicles as well as the theft of vehicles.
"Both continue to be a problem, it's something we're trying to educate the public on," said Tremblay. He said vehicle thefts were up 22 per cent from last year, which was up from the year before.
He noted a significant percentage included vehicles with keys left in the ignition. Tremblay also noted a frequent target were those vehicles with valuables or the appearance of valuables in them.
Another area seeing an increase in May is residential break and enters, up from 10 to 18 for the month. However, the category is still down nine per cent for the year, from 43 to 39.
Here is a rundown of the other numbers from the May 2014 RCMP report:
For the month of May year-to-year, person offences are down to 50 from 84, business break and enters are down to three from 10, criminal code offences up from 150 to 179, drug offences down from 35 to 10, motor vehicle collisions down from 23 to 12, provincial traffic offences down from 459 to 80, impaired operation of a motor vehicle down from 27 to 23 and municipal bylaws infractions down from 27 to 12.
For the overall percentages for the period from January to May compared to a year ago, person offences are down 30 per cent, business break and enters are down nine per cent, property offences are down 18 per cent, criminal code offences are unchanged at zero per cent, drug offences are down 62 per cent, motor vehicle collisions are down 43 per cent, provincial traffic offences are down 42 per cent, impaired operation of a motor vehicle are down 15 per cent, and municipal bylaws are down 12 per cent.
