ESTEVAN - The Estevan Police Service has seen an increase in the number of Criminal Code traffic violations in the first four months of the year.
Overall call volumes remain up from the same period of time a year ago, but are slightly down from the five-year average.
According to figures released at the May 17 meeting of the Estevan board of police commissioners, the EPS had 548 total calls for service in April, down from 493 they had in April 2022. On a year-to-date basis, the calls for service are up 15 per cent, from 2,011 in the first four months of 2022 to 2,325 over the same period this year.
As for the Criminal Code statistics, there were 10 crimes against the person in April, with seven assaults and three sexual crimes, compared to eight for April 2022.
So far this year, the EPS has had 46 crimes against the person, with 34 assaults and 12 sexual crimes. There were also 46 such charges in the first four months of last year.
Crimes against property were at 25 for April, led by 13 thefts under $5,000, six mischief/wilful damage complaints, five residential break and enters and one theft of a motor vehicle. There were 18 such infractions in April 2022.
There were 84 crimes against property from Jan. 1-April 30, up 18 per cent from the 71 for that stretch in 2022. This year's crimes against property have included 40 thefts under $5,000, 30 mischief/wilful damage complaints, 12 residential break and enters and two thefts of motor vehicles.
There were no charges laid under Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in April as opposed to five in April 2022.
Seventeen charges were laid under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in the first four months of this year, with nine for possession and eight for trafficking, versus 20 a year earlier.
Eight charges were laid for Criminal Code traffic violations last month, including seven for impaired/exceed-related offences and one for impairment by drug driving. Nine were laid in the same month last year.
So far this year, there have been 46 such violations – 36 for impaired/exceed-related offences, five for impairment by drug and five for dangerous driving and other. That is a 77 per cent increase from 26 Criminal Code traffic violations in the first four months of 2022.
Five-year averages for each category are 44 for crimes against the person, 83.6 for crimes against property, 34.8 for Criminal Code traffic violations and 16.8 under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
Also released was the April report for Spec. Const. Anna Volmer, the city's bylaw enforcement office. It showed 34 other bylaw violations, 25 parking violations, 13 animal calls, eight unkempt property inspections, six taxi bylaw occurrences, four animal violations, two animal impounds and one parking complaint for April.
So far this year she has dealt with 109 parking violations, 76 snow removal notices, 56 animal calls, 34 unkempt property inspections and some other calls.
Bylaw violations classified as “other” were up at 117 from 13 over the same time in 2022. Chief Rich Lowen said the increase is mainly due to the fact that the new bylaw officer dedicating time to familiarizing herself with the various bylaws the city has.
