Swift Current community policing report shows more offences in several categories
The latest community policing report for Swift Current provides details about an increase in offences in several areas during the previous three-month period.
Staff Sgt. Evan Gordon, the commanding officer of the Swift Current municipal RCMP detachment, presented the quarterly community policing report at a regular City council meeting, Oct. 30.
His report provided information about the period July to September 2023, which is the second quarter of the RCMP fiscal year.
He noted that there were more offences in the areas of residential and business break and enters, impaired driving, mischief and fraud.
The number of thefts has levelled off, but it remains higher than for the same reporting period in previous years.
There were 79 offences in the category of theft under $5,000 for July to September 2023 compared to 98 for the same period in 2022 and 37 in 2021.
“This is something that is fairly consistent across southern Saskatchewan though,” he said. “It’s not specific to Swift Current by any means. … I think this is something that we’re seeing provincially and is maybe indicative of some of the hardships that folks are facing and some of the trends that we’re seeing across the board.”
There were 13 offences recorded from July to September 2023 in the category of theft over $5,000 compared to 12 for this period in 2022 and nine in 2021.
“Quite often a lot of those are theft of vehicles and they are tied or can be tied to business break and enters,” he said. “What we saw in this period was a rash of thefts of trucks, Ford F-250s and 350s in particular. … The majority of those thefts were linked to a group out of Medicine Hat who have since been arrested here in the area with some great cooperation between not only our detachment, but with the rural detachment as well as our police dog services section.”
He added that such increases in offences in a specific category are often related to the action of a certain group, which can have a noticeable impact on the data recorded during a period.
“The thefts over in this period, although higher than I want them to be, can be attributed to one particular group that’s been caught and hopefully we can keep those numbers low going forward,” he said.
There were 12 residential break and enters from July to September 2023 compared to nine for the same period in 2022 and 11 in 2021.
The number of business break and enters were significantly higher compared to the previous two years. There were 19 offences from July to September 2023, but only three in 2022 and four in 2021.
“We averaged about six a month, which is extremely high,” he said.
“However, two thirds of those or sixty some per cent were linked to storage unit break and enters. So although still classified as a business break and enter, we’re not talking about brick and mortar storefronts necessarily that are being broken into, but multiple storage units in one location and over the course of different nights. One male and one female were arrested in relation to those
and since that time our monthly average has dropped from six a month to one.”
The number of mischiefs for the period July to September increased for a third year in a row from 77 in 2021 to 93 in 2022 and 124 in 2023. The offences in this category are either due to damage to property or interference with the lawful enjoyment of property. It can therefore vary from a smashed window to an unwanted guest at a residence
“So it is really a catch all,” he said. “Some of the types or the ranges of incidents that we saw were flowers pulled out of planters, eggs thrown at houses, damage to vehicles.”
Graffiti is recorded as a mischief and the actions of a small group of individuals resulted in a significant number of such offences.
“That generates a large number of individual files for us and normally we can link those back to a small number of parties,” he said.
Various actions resulted in mischief charges due to interference with the lawful enjoyment of property.
“That would consist of things like landlord tenant property damage, unwanted guests and we have gotten calls of youth just hanging around businesses, outside businesses, loitering, those sorts of things,” he said.
“They’re not necessarily causing a disturbance. They’re not really doing anything criminal, but they’re scored as mischief, because they’re interfering with people’s lawful enjoyment of property.”
The number of impaired driving offences increased during the reporting period. There were 33 offences from July to September 2023 compared to 20 for the same period in 2022 and 17 in 2021.
He noted that about 50 per cent of reported offences are a result of calls received from the public about impaired drivers and the other 50 per cent is a result of actions taken by RCMP officers to proactively check on people. He gave recognition to a detachment officer, Const. Doug Glasser, who was recognized provincially with the Van de Vorst award for his commitment to preventing harm caused by impaired drivers.
“I think it’s important for the community and for yourself as elected officials to know that we have those police officers that are out there proactively seeking these things out and not just waiting for the call to come in,” Gordon said. “We’d rather catch people that are making that poor decision before they get into a collision of some sort.”
There was one non-fatal drug overdose during the past quarter and it did not involve the use of fentanyl. The detachment’s efforts on drug use enforcement and awareness continued.
The City detachment executed a warrant for stolen property and assisted the Saskatchewan Trafficking Response Team with two other search warrants, which resulted in charges against several individuals for property crimes and trafficking cocaine.
Gordon referred to the contribution of the detachment’s Police and Crisis Team (PACT) worker Karla Rempel, who was involved with 41 calls in relation to mental health. This was a higher number of calls than in the previous quarter and there were two diversions from custody.
Detachment officers continued to focus on traffic safety during the past quarter and distracted driving remains an ongoing problem. They issued 44 tickets and gave two warnings.
“It is something that people have to wrap their heads around,” he said. “It’s decidedly unsafe, especially in a city where reaction time is a fraction of what it is out on the open road, Speeds are obviously lower, but the opportunity for a collision with property, people or other vehicles is so much higher in a city.”
The Swift Current RCMP detachment is currently operating with two vacancies, which is the same as when Gordon presented his previous report in July. He introduced Const. Amy Read, the newest officer at the detachment, to council members.
She graduated in August from the cadet training program at the RCMP Academy in Regina. She is from Moncton in New Brunswick, but has been a Swift Current resident for five years.
Her husband is an officer at the RCMP rural detachment in Swift Current and she worked in the financial services sector until she made the decision to also become a police officer.