Thefts from vehicles continue to be a big problem in North Battleford.
The subject came up for the second month in a row during the monthly RCMP crime statistics report presentation for July. Battlefords acting detachment commander Sgt. Kurt Grabinsky delivered the report Aug. 19 at North Battleford city council.
While calls for service have gone down again in July, Grabinsky reported property offences had gone up from 230 to 260.
Grabinsky attributed that rise to "reports of multiple thefts from vehicles."
He noted situations where vehicles were unlocked, people would check latches, open the vehicles and steal items.
"We're having a very difficult time," Grabinsky reported on the situation. He did say, though, a number of arrests have been made of both youth and adult offenders.
Grabinsky did note not all vehicle break ins are classified as property offences. It depends on what was stolen, he said in response to Councillor Trent Houk.
The councillor, who runs a vehicle repair business in the city, noted he'd been a victim himself recently of vehicle break-ins.
"There's been a rash of them. I've probably been hit ten times this summer, last night being the latest," said Houk.
Houk went on to raise the issue about whether the curfew bylaw could help address the situation.
"I've had a lot of people contact me again about our curfew bylaw and if there's something that could be done," said Houk. He wanted to know if "there's some way to give direction to our police force to use the powers that be to enforce it."
Houk also suggested possibly more unmarked cars could be used to catch people.
Grabinsky said a curfew is something council would have to look at. He also held out the possibility of the force acquiring unmarked police vehicles to replace those existing ones in need of replacement. He pledged to get back to council on that issue before the next report.
As for the rest of the statistical report for July 2013, calls for service were down for the month from 1,300 to 1,111, and declines were noted for the month in the categories of person offenses, criminal code offences, drug and liquor act offenses and impaired operation of a motor vehicle.
Grabinsky told council they had "recovered from the number of break-ins in the schools" and the force was active with 23 foot patrols and a number of bike patrols last month.
