Overall crime numbers in the town of Battleford held steady in 2019 compared to the previous year.
Insp. Tom Beck appeared before Battleford council at Monday’s council meeting to provide the fourth-quarter numbers for Battlefords RCMP Detachment. Those included specific numbers for the town of Battleford.
For 2019, overall calls for service in Battleford were almost identical to the year before, with 1,234 calls. That is just 10 below the number reported for 2018.
Crime numbers for the year saw a few declines, but also some troubling increases. The most significant increases identified by Beck were in break and enters.
In 2019 there were 11 business break and enters (up four from 2018), 28 residential break and enters (up 14) and six other break and enters (down from 12).
There were also increases in person offences from 94 to 121 and in criminal code offences from 101 to 141.
Categories that saw declines include property offences (down 10 to 304), drug offences (down from 16 to five), impaired operation of a motor vehicle offences (down from 25 to 20), liquor related offences (from 18 to 14) and municipal bylaws (14 to 11).
When counting the entire detachment area, including North Battleford and the rural areas, calls for service were up for the year to 22,881 from 20,348. Overall in year-to-date numbers, person offences in the detachment were down from 1,772 to 1,664, residential break and enters up from 280 to 318, business break and enters down from 94 to 85, property offences down from 4,332 to 3,979, drug offences down from 240 to 150, criminal code offences up from 2,815 to 3,037 and impaired operation up from 413 to 437. Provincial traffic offences were up from 2,606 to 5,113.
In the fourth quarter of 2019, from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, the town of Battleford accounted for five per cent of calls for service in the detachment while North Battleford accounted for 64 per cent.
Crime Reduction Initiatives
Beck also spoke of some of the initiatives the RCMP has going in the detachment to address the crime situation.
One is the pro-active enforcement and prolific offender enforcement. These initiatives include high-visibility patrols, tracking of chronic offenders and dealing with gang-related crimes and execution of outstanding warrants.
According to his report, a reallocation of existing resources took place with the creation of a team dedicated to monitoring gangs and chronic offenders. This consists of four uniformed officers whose focus includes warrant apprehension, curfew checks and intelligence gathering.
It’s a pilot project, Beck said, and they have been successful in dealing with gang and other crimes.
“I’m hoping to see a bit of a decline in regards to that,” Beck said.
The stats for the fourth quarter showed the team arrested 81 individuals resulting in 47 provincial, 94 Criminal Code and 4 Controlled Drug and Substances Act charges. Team members also seized six ounces of crack, four ounces of cocaine and two firearms.
Search warrants were also executed in three residences in North Battleford and Battleford, where charges were laid and drugs and firearms recovered.
Beck also reported the Battlefords detachment is now fully staffed.
“It is a change right across the board,” said Beck, noting vacancy rates are low nationally at around two to three per cent.
Overall, the crime rate in the town “is staying pretty much at pat right now,” said Beck.
Councillors did not seem surprised by the numbers presented. Mayor Ames Leslie was happy to see the declines reported in a number of categories, calling it a “sign that things are going the right way.”
He was encouraged to see a 20 per cent decrease in impaired operation of a motor vehicle numbers, saying “hopefully that 20 per cent decrease in people choosing not to drink and drive.”
