WEYBURN – The year-end statistics for crime in Weyburn paint a “very positive picture” with many reported crimes down at the end of 2021 compared to a year ago.
Weyburn Police Chief Jamie Blunden provided the year-end stats compared to 2020, and compared to the six-year average for Weyburn.
The Weyburn Police Service’s new business plan has a “high visibility” strategy that contributes to the goal of creating a safer community.
“This has contributed to the decrease in property crimes and calls for service,” said Chief Blunden, adding also the trend over the past six years is at or below the average for the last year. “This is a very positive picture for Weyburn.”
As of the end of 2021, crimes against property, Criminal code violations and traffic violations all show a decrease.
Crimes against properties totaled 256 in 2021, down 37 per cent from 2020 when there were 407 crimes recorded.
Criminal code violations were down by 61 per cent, from 64 in 2020 to 25 in 2021.
Traffic violations were down by 7.3 per cent, going from 882 to 818 charges laid in 2021.
The total calls for service to the WPS was 4,838 in 2021, which is down by 11.2 per cent from 2020 when calls totaled 5,446.
Crimes against persons increased by 11.7 per cent, from 120 incidents in 2020 to 134 in 2021. The main contributor to this increase were sexual crimes, which went up from 35 to 43 crimes, attributed to an investigation with one person who was accused with numerous victims.
Looking at the six-year average of crime stats, crimes against persons and Criminal Code violations showed an increase in 2021, with 73.6 crimes against persons in the six-year average compared to 77 for 2021. This was mainly driven up from the single sexual assault investigation with multiple victims.
Criminal code violations had only one crime that drove up the average, namely impaired by a drug. Chief Blunden pointed out, “This is mostly due to more proactive policing in drug-related impaired driving enforcement.”
All other types of crimes were down from the six-year average.
