Drinking and driving continues to be a problem in the Humboldt area, and RCMP are concerned.
According to statistics from 2012 from the Humboldt RCMP, police laid 26 impaired driving charges in 2012 - down just two from 2011.
In the rural Humboldt area, including the area covered by the Lanigan RCMP, 36 charges of impaired driving were laid in 2012 - that's down from 60 charges laid in 2011.
But that's not because people are not driving impaired, noted Cpl. Randy Wittig of the Humboldt RCMP.
"Overall, we have a concern about impaired driving in the area," Wittig said.
Those being charged with impaired driving come from all walks of life, he noted.
"It's anyone and everyone. Younger people, older people. It's everyone and every gender," he said.
It's worse in Saskatchewan than in Manitoba, he added.
When Wittig worked at detachments in Manitoba, he found it was mostly older people who would be charged with impaired driving.
Manitoba has tougher impaired driving laws, Wittig said. Those caught driving with a blood alcohol level over .08 would automatically lose their vehicle for 30 days. For those with a level over .16, they lost their vehicle for 60 days. That seemed to be enough to convince young people not to do it.
In Saskatchewan, there's no loss of vehicle for any length of time. Those convicted of impaired driving lose their licence for at least a year, and have to pay a fine.
On the positive side, break and enters did go down in Humboldt and in the rural area in 2012, which is good to see, Wittig said.
Within Humboldt, break and enters dropped from 21 to 13 in 2012. Five of the reported break-ins were to businesses, seven to residences, and one was to another building. In the rural area, break and enters dropped from 42 to 27 in 2012, which is a good drop, Wittig said.
It is believed this is a result of local RCMP targeting prolific offenders in the area. They've been staying on top of those repeat offenders to ensure they are abiding by the conditions set out by the courts, Wittig noted.
"Ten per cent of the people cause 90 per cent of the crime. We've been focused on those who are causing the crime."
Priorities for enforcement in 2013 will continue to be impaired drivers, youth issues, drug enforcement, traffic enforcement, and staying on top of those chronic offenders.
City of Humboldt
Speed continues to be a concern within the City of Humboldt, as there have again been a large number of collisions within the city limits in the past year.
There were 65 traffic collisions in Humboldt in 2012, up from 64 in 2011.
Many of those occurred in November and December, Wittig believes, due in most part to freezing rain and snow the region received.
"We've had bad roads since the first of November (due to weather)," said Wittig.
Traffic charges dropped from 533 to 444 in 2012, but Canadian Criminal Code traffic charges rose from four to six. The latter category includes charges like driving while disqualified and failing to remain at the scene of a collision, Wittig explained.
Within Humboldt, charges of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle jumped from two to four in the past year, and false or mistaken calls to 9-1-1 went from 108 to 118 incidents.
Municipal bylaw offences went from 25 to 23 in the past year, and breach of court orders and conditions dropped from 56 to 44.
Charges of resisting or obstructing a police officer went from three to one in 2012, and firearms offences from three to two.
Tobacco Act offences rose from zero charges in 2011 to four in 2012.
These charges involved either smoking in a vehicle with a person under the age of 18 - Humboldt was actually the first detachment in the province to write such a ticket - or store owners selling cigarettes to minors.
Drug trafficking charges in the city dropped from three in 2011 to two in 2012, and drug possession charges went from 18 to 14.
Sexual assaults dropped from nine in 2011 to one in 2012, and attempted murders went from one in 2011 to zero in the past year.
Assaults went up, though. There were 15 reported in 2011 and 21 in 2012. All assaults - common, aggravated, assault with a weapon, assaulting a police officer - went from 19 total in 2011 to 33 in 2012.
Thefts under $5,000 went from 44 to 48, and thefts over $5,000 from 10 to 17.
Of the 10 in 2011, only one was not of a vehicle, Wittig noted. In 2012, of the 17 reports, nine were vehicles.
Charges for possession of stolen property went from five in 2011 to three in 2012, but mischiefs reported in 2012 went from 70 to 89.
A lot of those reports, Wittig said, were of thefts of items from vehicles. There was a rash of thefts from vehicles in late 2012.
Frauds also went up in 2012, from 12 to 17. A large number of those were phone and email scams and fake cheques, Wittig said.
Criminal record checks were way up in 2012 - 905 compared to 688 in 2011.
This was due to the RBC Cup Humboldt hosted in May of last year. Volunteers were required to have a criminal record check.
False alarms from alarm systems within the city are remaining about level - 179 in 2011, compared to 173 in 2012.
That number staying relatively even could actually be seen as a decrease, Wittig noted, as there are far more alarms in the city now than even two years ago.
The City of Humboldt's new bylaw regarding false alarms is helping to curb the problem of false alarms, Wittig believes.
According to this bylaw, those businesses or residences that have three or more false alarms are charged a fee.
That has helped, Wittig said. People with malfunctioning systems are now paying to get them fixed.
It's actually quite dangerous to have a high number of false alarms in a community, Wittig noted.
"It leads to complacency," he said.
The total of reported incidents within Humboldt in 2012 is up - 2,739 in 2012, compared to 2,516 in 2011.
Most of that is due to the number of criminal record checks, and charges for traffic offences, Wittig noted.
Rural area
As of April 1, 2012, the rural Humboldt area combined with that of the Lanigan RCMP.
"This year saw the amalgamation of the rural Humboldt area to include the Lanigan detachment area for statistics," said Wittig.
Traffic collisions are down in the rural area, from 170 in 2011 to 144 in 2012.
Total traffic charges were down quite a bit, from 1, 776 in 2011 to 1,464 in 2012.
Dangerous operation of a motor vehicle charges dropped from 11 to 5, but false 9-1-1 calls went from 110 in 2011 to 115 in 2012.
Municipal bylaw offences are down, from 10 in 2011 to eight in 2012, but charges of breach of court orders and conditions went from 20 to 21.
Firearms offences were consistent, with five in both 2011 and 2012.
Drug trafficking and production charges numbered two in 2011, and just one in 2012.
Charges related to drug possession also dropped from 20 in 2011 to 15 in 2012.
Sexual assaults went from 11 offences in 2011 to seven in 2012.
Assaults of all kinds went up in the rural area, as they did in the City of Humboldt, going from 27 in 2011 to 35 in 2012.
Thefts under $5,000 were pretty consistent, rising from 47 to 48, while thefts over $5,000 dropped from 25 to 21.
Of those 21, 18 were thefts of vehicles.
There were four incidents of possession of stolen property in 2012, down from nine in 2011, and mischiefs are down as well, from 90 reported in 2011 to 70 in 2012.
"That's always good," said Wittig.
Frauds actually went up in the rural area, however, going from 20 to 29.
"A lot of them are scams," Wittig explained. "If it's too good to be true, and they phone or email you, it's not true."
False alarms from alarm systems are down in the rural area from 119 to 103.
Total reported incidents for the rural area around Humboldt were down quite a bit, from 3,515 in 2011 to 2,994 in 2012.
Most of that, Wittig said, is due to the drop in the number of traffic tickets handed out in the past year.
