North Battleford city council heard from RCMP Insp. Tom Beck on Monday about the latest crime stats for the second quarter of 2020.
Those stats showed calls for service down for the quarter from 3842 to 3767, but up for the year from 6589 to 7015.
Driving the increase, according to Insp. Beck, were impaired driving offences, which are up for the year from 74 to 138. He said this is the result of proactive work.
Drug offences are also up from 49 to 78 and Beck said that is also attributed to proactive work by the department in cracking down on drug possession and trafficking.
Also up so far in 2020 are criminal code offences (ie. Causing a Disturbance, Breach of Peace, Weapons Offences, Indecent Acts etc.) from 1,019 to 1,153, and persons offences from 506 to 589.
But down are property offences as well as break and enters. Provincial traffic offences are also down 36 per cent for the year.
Beck also provided some numbers in the report on those held in North Battleford cells. For the year up to June 30, 2020, 1676 people have been held in their cells and that is down from 2,035 for the same period last year. Of that, the number of provincial prisoners held is 593, down from 1,041, while municipal prisoners are 951, down from 1,082.
Provincial prisoners are described as those remanded by the court, while municipal prisoners are those who are fresh arrests by the RCMP before they are remanded. Beck attributed the drop in prisoners to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.
