Crime statistics of the past five years for Battlefords RCMP detachment are showing a slow but sure downward overall trend.
The statistics for North Battleford, released this past week, confirmed what detachment Insp. John Sutherland told city council in January: that crime numbers for 2013 are the lowest since 2009 overall.
Not all categories showed a decline, but figures released Thursday show total criminal code offences at 5,756, the lowest since hitting highs of 6,215 in 2010 and then 6,294 in 2011.
The number is the lowest figure since 2009 when 5,602 total Criminal Code offences were recorded.
Overall calls for service sit at 14,639, which is also the lowest since 2009 when 14,430 were recorded. Again, 2011 registered a high at 15,390.
The 2013 numbers were made public in January, but the release of the five-year average shed some new light on how the statistics stack up compared to previous years.
The overall statistics show drops in several areas, with person offences and the category of "other criminal code offences" showing the most noticeable drops.
Residential break and enters, though, were a concern in 2013, with 115 recorded in that category - the highest since 2010, and largely a result of the wave of school break-ins that happened in the spring and summer.
The bulk of person offences recorded are assaults, with 442 recorded in 2013 - continuing a steady trend downward since 2010.
However, there were three incidents recorded in the category of "murder/attempted/offences related to death" - a five-year high. That is not surprising, considering that 2013 saw the first murder in the city in a decade in September.
Property crime was also a big issue in 2013 with 2,744 recorded in that category, the second-highest number in that five-year average with only 2010 recording more.
The bulk of property offences were in the mischief category, where 1,898 were recorded last year in North Battleford, the second highest year in the five-year statistics compared to 1,962 in 2010.
Also keeping police officers busy were the 596 incidents in the "thefts under $5,000" category. Still, the good news was that number turned out to be a five-year low.
Of those, 141 were in the "theft from vehicles" category, the highest since 2009. That number should come as no surprise, given the earlier concerns expressed by RCMP and by area residents during the summer months about a wave of vehicle break-ins and thefts occuring throughout the city.
At that time, police urged local residents to take preventative measures to lock vehicles and remove all valuables from them.
Here is a complete rundown of the five-year statistics for Battlefords RCMP detachment that were released Thursday.
Year Stats20092010201120122013
Person Offences686964933867813
B&E - Business3963504345
B&E - Residence2151689992115
Property Offences26112838268324772744
Other Criminal Code17831881215920361707
Impaired Driving268301370341332
Total Criminal Code56026215629458565756
Drug Offences75144272374252
Liquor Acts523306439306279
Motor Vehicle Collisions384279388322290
Provincial Traffic Offences19231874207124742626
Municipal Bylaws336198235247177
False Alarms8491126995892912
Assistance To other Agencies582871861821592
Calls for Services14,43014,91115,39015,14814,639
Persons Offences20092010201120122013
Sexual Offence 3939362431
Robbery/Harassment/205329324249209
Threats/Extortion
Robbery1236332223
Murder/Attempted/20113
Offences related to
Death
Kidnapping/Abduction1481077
Assaults408559486483442
Aggravated Assaults112391313
Assault with Weapon74111128148113
Property Offences
Theft Under $5000730744695628596
Bikes4346573740
Shoplifting13211611711892
Theft From Vehicles1589110291141
Vehicles (included above/13110612396119
below
Theft Over $50006249137126144
Mischief1,7461,9621,7221,4381,898
