If Councillor Ron Crush had his way there would be less mention of specific instances of criminal activity in the monthly crime reports from the RCMP.
At the monthly North Battleford municipal services meeting Monday, Crush took issue with the "activities of interest" section of the monthly RCMP detachment report to the City from Staff Sgt. Phil Wilson, saying the specific mentions of crimes in that section are of little use and simply add to negativity in the community.
Crush was referring to the portion of Wilson's monthly report that describes specific crimes in the North Battleford community in the past month and what charges were laid. The other portions of the monthly report include crime statistics as well as crime prevention and community relations activities by the force.
In Wilson's monthly report to council dated Sept. 13, among the crimes listed as "activities of interest" in the month of August was a man assaulting his girlfriend, a complaint about a man looking for his wife with a baseball bat, a complaint about a forged prescription, an angry male smashing a bottle to the ground, a sexual assault that took place in a back yard, a youth who escaped the Drumming Hill Youth Centre and an arrest where various weapons were seized.
While dates and some particulars of the crimes are usually mentioned, including arrests and charges laid, no names are ever mentioned in this section of the report.
Wilson's monthly report outlined the detachment's crime prevention activities and listed the monthly crime statistics and municipal traffic data for the previous month. The number of foot patrols and calls for service were also noted.
Crush has been keenly interested in the crime reports during his time on council and has often pressed police to focus on preventative measures and stepped-up visibility.
But while he made clear he finds statistical data in the reports useful, he noted he did not have much use for the specific instances of crimes mentioned.
"I have some difficulty finding value in detail of these incidences - the specific incidences. I wonder if there is a different way or if it is necessary to report, for instance, two individuals having intercourse," said Crush, who was referring the incident of sexual assault described in the report.
The incident was described in Wilson's report as having happened during the early morning hours of Aug. 20. Battlefords RCMP receiving a complaint "of two subjects having intercourse in the complainant's neighbour's backyard. Members attended and located a passed out female and male. Further investigation resulted in one adult male being charged sexual assault."
Crush felt such detailed descriptions were not helpful.
"It just adds to the negativity that sort of correlates the community", said Crush.
He suggested specific crimes might be better brought up in the verbal report to council, where council could bring up "trends" or "incidents of reoccurrence."
Crush also expressed concern the reports could more easily point to the persons involved in these instances and help identify them, given the small size of the community. He cited that as another reason against listing specific instances of crime.
Wilson said he had "absolutely no trouble" amending the reports in the future. The specific instances were traditionally put in the report to give councils some idea what was happening, he said, and "it's not to appear negative."
Not everyone agreed with Crush, as Councillor Trent Houk said he appreciated the crime incidents being mentioned in the monthly RCMP report.
"I find it interesting to know this stuff is going on in the community and I think the citizens deserve to know that," said Houk. "It's much better than denial of the problems."
