In spite of all the bad crime news lately there is some good statistical news being reported about crime numbers in North Battleford.
The third-quarter statistical data for Battlefords City Detachment was presented to council Monday night of last week showing calls for service are down in North Battleford from last year.
There was a total calls for service of 3,799 in the third quarter, down from 3,891 for the same period in 2016.
Among the stats, declines were noted in the categories of persons offences (from 361 to 319), property offences (924 to 846), liquor acts (253 to 119), drug offences (56 to 51), provincial traffic offences (258 to 214), and impaired operation of a motor vehicle (84 to 55).
There was also a decline in business break and enters from 27 to 13, but on the flip side the residential break and enters were up from 44 to 49.
Criminal code offences were also up from 650 to 750, and there were also increases noted for municipal bylaws, motor vehicle collisions, false alarms and calls for assistance. There were 296 calls for assistance compared with 135 for the same period a year earlier.
Overall, the third quarter stats come on the heels of other positive numbers released for the first and second quarter of 2017, which also showed declines in crime numbers compared with last year.
City manager Jim Puffalt presented the RCMP report at Monday night’s council meeting. RCMP Insp. John Sutherland was not in attendance, as he remained back at the RCMP detachment dealing with the aftermath of the fatal shooting by an RCMP member.
Puffalt noted there was a reduction in crime in North Battleford and also pointed out that the town of Battleford had seen similar information in their report.
He noted community safety officers were working closely with the RCMP to take some of the workload off, with calls for service transferring to the CSO program. That work will carry on, he said.
As well, a distracted driving blitz took place the previous Friday and some joint activities were going on with traffic control all week. Mayor Ryan Bater noted there was an increased presence of RCMP doing traffic control as part of a “pre-planned blitz.”
