New RCMP commander arrives amid good crime news

Some encouraging November numbers greeted the arrival of the new RCMP commander at the Battlefords detachment.

Inspector John Sutherland was introduced to council at Monday's meeting by acting detachment commander Sgt. Darcy Woolfitt. Monday was Sutherland's first day on the job in his new role.

Sutherland has 25 years of policing experience, spending 12 years in Whitehorse before spending the past two-and-a-half years in federal policing in Regina.

He told council he was approached about coming to the Battlefords and was excited about the opportunity, having previously been posted at Goodsoil.

"I look forward to the challenges. It's good to hear I'm not the only new guy on the block - it sounds like there's a lot of new folks here and I think we're going to work well," said Sutherland, referring to some of the new hires coming on board with the City of North Battleford.

Sutherland arrived to hear what was an encouraging Battlefords RCMP crime report for November, presented by Woolfitt.

There were noticeable drops in persons, property, criminal code and drug offences during the month, with calls for service down to 737 from 969 the previous November.

The most encouraging drop was in person offences from 81 in November 2012 to 49 in November 2013. Property offences were down from 158 to 140, criminal code offences from 121 to 111 and drug offences from 18 to five.

Business break and enters were down from two to zero, although residential break and enters did increase slightly from five to six. Liquor act offences were also up from 16 to 18, and provincial traffic offences were up from 75 to 80. Impaired operation of a motor vehicle was also up from 21 to 24.

For the year through November, overall calls for service are at 13,890, down from 14,243 the previous year.

For the year, declines are being registered for person offences (four per cent), criminal code offences (15 per cent), drug offences (35 per cent), liquor acts (17 per cent), impaired operation of a motor vehicle (four per cent) and municipal bylaws (29 per cent).

Woolfitt noted that the bulk of person offences are common assaults.

Increases are being reported for business break and enters (two per cent), residential break and enters (26 per cent), property offences (47 per cent) and provincial traffic offences (13 per cent). Of the property offences, Woolfitt noted 110 of those were in the category of mischief to, damage to or obstructing enjoyment of property.

Woolfitt asked for feedback on the monthly activities of interest as well as the daily reports the detachment was providing. Councillors nodded their approval of both.

Councillor Ryan Bater reiterated comments he had made in December on the daily reports, noting the shift in sentiment to "oh my, look at the volume of work the detachment has to do on a daily basis."

Bater also noted the daily reports were "quite enjoyable to read," to which Woolfitt responded "our jobs are never boring."

Also presented to council at the meeting was a copy of a letter to the editor that ran in the News-Optimist in November. In that letter Guy Turcotte, founder of the Facebook group North Battleford Victims of Crime, urged support for the work of the local RCMP detachment.

Overall, the statistical report for November was greeted as good news by Councillor Greg Lightfoot.

"The stats in North Battleford are decreasing," said Lightfoot, who noted that the "major crimes - Criminal Code offences and drug offences - are down substantially. So that's some good numbers to see."