NORTH BATTLEFORD — Calls for RCMP service were up in North Battleford in 2021 and there are concerns about violations of conditions, speeding and stolen vehicles in the community.
Battlefords RCMP S./Sgt. Jason Teniuk discussed all of those issues as he presented the latest RCMP report to North Battleford council Monday. The report included final numbers for 2021 as well as the five-year trend.
For the year 2021, calls for service stood at 16,354 for the year, up slightly from 16,343. Over a five-year period calls for service are up 19 per cent.
Over the five-year period the RCMP North Battleford municipal detachment reported a 15 per cent rise in property offences, 11 per cent in other Criminal Code offences, and a 56 per cent rise in provincial traffic offences. There were drops of three per cent in person offences and 12 per cent in criminal code traffic offences over the five years.
One of the largest increases Teniuk reported was the category described as “administration of justice offences.” These include bail violations, breach of probation, failure to appear and so on.
This category reported an increase of 83 per cent over five years. Teniuk noted that over this past year it was up from 652 to 1,186.
It was something they were keeping an eye on. Teniuk noted it seems the orders from the court are being regarded as “just a suggestion,” and they are seeing many people charged while out on conditions in the community.
Speeding is also up considerably. There were 373 speeding offences in 2021, up from 348. Teniuk said that really depends on who’s in town and who’s doing it.
The last one of note was breach of the peace, which reported a 313 per cent increase over five years. Last year that category was at 376, up from 320.
With respect to their human resource status, Teniuk said there were four cadets coming in and two experienced members coming in, so they were “not in too bad a shape going forward.”
Also, with regard to the detachment itself, they put up 12 security cameras at their parking lot and there will be more communication with the city regarding that.
One issue raised by Councillor Bill Ironstand was that a “large amount of recreational vehicles are disappearing in the last two and a half months.”
“It is, and it’s a sign of the times right now,” said Teniuk. He noted recreational vehicles are in short supply and expensive, and as prices go up, so does crime. Teniuk also noted they are seeing this increase in other locations as well.
Teniuk also repeated that they continue to “lose a ton of automotives.” He called that an even bigger concern, and reported there was another incident on the weekend “where a vehicle was stolen and decided to play crash-up derby with our police cars.”
“We just need to get a handle on that,” said Teniuk, who said it was something they were looking hard at.
