ESTEVAN — The Estevan board of police commissioners gathered for its lone meeting of the summer Aug. 19 at city hall.
Board members reviewed the call volume numbers for June and July. The June numbers showed the Estevan Police Service handled 921 calls, up from 856 for the same month last year. Police Chief Jamie Blunden noted the increase was thanks to traffic infractions, stemming from a Selective Traffic Enforcement Program blitz and high-visibility check stops.
“Every time they stop a car, they generate an incident,” said Blunden.
As for crime numbers, Blunden noted the only significant increase for June was thefts under $5,000, as they went up from 16 to 22.
The EPS responded to six crimes against the person in June, with five assaults and one assault causing bodily harm. There were 20 calls for crimes against the person in June 2024.
Crimes against property stood at 37 in June, up from 32 the previous year, thanks to the increase in thefts under $5,000. There were nine mischief/wilful damage complaints, four thefts of a vehicle, one residential break and enter and one business break and enter in June.
The EPS handled three incidents under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in June, with two for trafficking and one for possession. And there were nine Criminal Code traffic violations, with seven for impaired/exceed-related offences, one for impairment by drug and one for dangerous driving/other.
July brought 529 total calls for service, down from 630 the previous year. Crimes against the person stood at 14, with 13 for assault and one for assault causing bodily harm. There were 16 in the same month a year ago.
In the first seven months of this year, there were 94 crimes against the person reported to the EPS, with 73 assaults, 10 assaults causing bodily harm, 10 sexual crimes and one murder. For the same period in 2024, there were 106 crimes against the person.
The EPS had 32 crimes against property last month, with 16 for theft under $5,000, eight for mischief/wilful damage, five for residential break and enters, and three for thefts of a motor vehicle. There were 42 such incidents in July 2024.
The first seven months of the year had 233 crimes against property, down from 267 through July 31, 2024. The year-to-date numbers for 2025 included 124 thefts under $5,000, 68 mischief/wilful damage complaints, 19 thefts of a motor vehicle, 15 residential break and enters, four thefts over $5,000, one business break and enter and two arsons.
July had one incidence for trafficking and two for possession under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA), compared to none in July 2024. Twelve CDSA incidents have occurred this year, with eight for trafficking and four for possession, compared with 18 in the first seven months of 2024.
Just three incidents occurred in July for Criminal Code traffic violations, with two for impaired/exceed-related offences and one for dangerous driving/other, well down from 13 in July 2024. For the first seven months of the year, there were 33 impaired/exceed-related offences, 12 impaired by drug charges and six for dangerous driving and other, for a total of 51, down from 75 for the same period a year ago.
Total calls stood at 4,096 for the first seven months of the year, down 6.2 per cent from the 4,368 for the same period last year.
The five-year average is 4,508 calls.
Blunden noted the EPS has been doing a lot of social media and public safety messaging about preventing property crimes.
