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RCMP crime stats going down in NB
By John Cairns
Staff Reporter
The trend for 2018 is continuing downward in most crime categories in the city of North Battleford.
Sgt. Jason Teniuk of Battlefords RCMP detachment provided the second-quarter numbers, which show calls for service down for the year to date, to council Monday.
According to 2018 numbers from January to the end of June, calls for service stand at 5,139, down from 5,343 for the same period in 2017.
For the quarter April to June, calls for service stand at 2,356, down from 2,460 the year before.
The year’s statistics through the end of June are seeing notable declines in the following categories:
Residential break and enters are down from 87 last year to 61 this year.
Business break and enters are down slightly from 17 to 16.
Property offences are down from 1,300 to 1,189.
Criminal code offences are down from 904 to 781. Teniuk called this a “very significant decrease” and a “very positive step.”
Liquor act offences are down from 196 to 139.
Provincial traffic offences are down from 442 to 389.
Finally, impaired operation offences are down from 103 to 77. Motor vehicle accidents are essentially unchanged, down from 113 to 111.
Increases have been noted in a couple of categories. Person offences are up slightly for the year from 530 to 537. As well, drug offences are up from 84 to 94, a number Teniuk attributed to more enforcement activity in that area.
Calls for assistance, such as for other police agencies, property checks and assisting the general public, are up from 245 to 381.
False alarms are down from 178 to 126.
The second quarter statistics are pretty much in line with the yearly ones in terms of categories that are increasing and decreasing. The one difference is that municipal bylaws were down for the quarter from 36 to 28. For the year, they are still up 59 to 56.
As well, business break and enters were up slightly for the quarter from eight to nine.
Overall, Mayor Ryan Bater said he was happy with the numbers in the report.
“I’m happy with a lot of what I’m hearing with the RCMP detachment,” said Bater, pointing to the crime statistics going down as well as new resources such as the province’s Crime Reduction Team.
“It’s nice to see new resources, and it’s nice to see a lot of that manifesting itself with lower stats.”
