While more break and enters and thefts under $5,000 have been taking place this year as compared to last year, overall, property crimes have dropped this year, Staff Sgt. Lee Brachmann reported to town council at its Aug. 8 council.
While more break and enters and thefts under $5,000 have been taking place this year as compared to last year, overall, property crimes have dropped this year, Staff Sgt. Lee Brachmann reported to town council at its Aug. 8 council.
Break and enters from January to June increased from 13 last year to 33 this year, while theft under $5,000 rose from 93 cases last year to 111 cases this year. However, cases of thefts of motor vehicles, fraud and particularly mischief to property cases came down this year as compared to last.
“We are seeing an overall reduction of property crimes than 2015, which is encouraging,&” said Brachmann.
Overall, person crimes like offences related to death, uttering threats and robbery were slightly higher so far this year in 2016 as compared to last year, but still were within the five-year comparison, he said.
“The exception that is in the area of sexual assault,&” he said, noting there was an increase in sexual assault complaints this year, which he said RCMP was aware of and watching out for.
“Obviously we're just going to keep an eye on the numbers and just deal with them as they come.&”
In one good note in the police report, Brachmann said offences under the Alberta Gaming & Liquor Act have come down to its lowest level since 2013, with offences like public intoxication and having open liquor resulting in 122 occurrences this year, versus 238 occurrences the year before, from January to June. He also said there were fewer collisions resulting in significant motor vehicle damage, with 85 reported this year as compared to 165 in the first half of 2015.
Mayor Glenn Andersen asked if Brachmann would say that photo radar played a role in the decrease in motor vehicle collisions resulting in damage, with Brachmann deferring the question by saying that it was hard to say if it was photo radar, officer engagement, or people just being more safe and careful.
“Maybe it's a combination of everything,&” he said, adding that regardless, if the trend continued, it was an indication that something was working.
Coun. Judy Bogdan expressed some concerns about what she saw was a decrease in officer visibility.
“It seems to me there's been a decrease in the visibility, and I think as a result of that, and with all due respect, some of our individuals that are creating some of the problems are becoming blatantly bold in terms of where they're hanging out and what they're doing,&” she said, adding vagrants are outside and more visible, drinking and being more aggressive with passers-by. “With the repercussions with what happened, I don't know, I'm just feeling that maybe that (visibility) needs to be bumped up again.&”
She said she had heard reports of people even being assaulted or threatened on the north side of town, by the walking trail, with her advice to people to continually report incidents to police.
Brachmann agreed, saying, “If we know a certain area is a problem, we can concentrate on it for a period of time in order to try and rectify the problem.&”
“There are times when people think, ‘Oh it's kind of minor, I don't want to bother.' Well, you're not bothering the RCMP, our job is to investigate this.&”
As for Bogdan's concerns about lack of visibility, he said, “I'm disheartened to hear that, because we have been working very, very hard to be more visible in the town.&”
Last year, the RCMP was able to do foot and bike patrols, but this summer, it hasn't been able to do as many, partly because the summer has been so busy and officers have been dealing with calls for assistance. However, he said that he has asked members to do foot and bike patrols as time permits, but even if they are not visible on the streets, often they are doing work behind the scenes that people may or may not even notice.
Bogdan agreed, and gave credit to the job detachment members do, while council thanked Brachman for the presentation, and for RCMP members' work.
Brachmann also stopped by the County of St. Paul monthly council meeting on Tuesday to offer rural statistics to councillors.
In his report, Brachmann noted that there have been 51 reported occurrences of property crime in the county area that is patrolled by St. Paul RCMP, between the months of April and July. Those statistics also included 10 break and enters.
He noted that the numbers were “not overly surprising,&” but property crimes are something RCMP is keeping an eye on, he said.
In the same time period, there were 35 files of reportable Motor Vehicle Collisions, and five injury MVCs. Eleven impaired driving charges were also noted in that time period, which appears to be “relatively stable.&”
Over the May long weekend, a meeting was held with residents of Lac Sante concerned about thefts and break-ins. Brachmann noted that many of the county's lake subdivisions experience similar issues.
“There have been quite a few thefts overall,&” he said. Each subdivision, which includes areas such as Lottie Lake, Lac Sante, Crestview, Lac Bellevue, and Gardner Lake, have all seen a small handful of break-ins and/or thefts this summer.
When asked if thefts in the area were going up, Brachmann said RCMP “have seen some more concentrated thefts . . . It kind of depends on the year.&”
Coun. Glen Ockerman asked if the thefts were a response to the downturn in economy, with Brachmann saying he would suspect seeing an increase of some sort as a result of that downturn.
Overall, the county sees quite a few more property crimes than persons crimes.
Ockerman also asked Brachmann about the usefulness of municipalities hiring peace officers.
“It certainly is an enhancement,&” said Brachmann, in response to Ockerman's question. He noted that peace officers can do more proactive things, and added that he has not heard of any RCMP positions being lost due to the hiring of peace officers by municipalities.
He added that in St. Paul, RCMP members and peace officers work together to achieve similar goals, such as traffic safety.
CAO Sheila Kitz and Coun. Maxine Fodness also brought up ATV concerns that were being voiced in the Crestview area. Brachmann noted the concern, and also added that RCMP plan to do some boat patrols in the area before the summer season is over.
