Crime statistics may be seeing a downward trend across Alberta, but locally the numbers are still climbing, albeit more slowly than previously.
Westlock RCMP Staff Sgt. Al Baird presented Town of Westlock councillors with the community’s 2018 crime numbers and reported that both person crimes and property crime files were up from 2017, but that he thought the numbers were plateauing and had no “major concern.”
Every person crime was up, except assault, and thankfully homicides remained at zero, along with extortion. Robberies, sexual assaults, kidnapping (zero to one), harassment and uttering threats were all up. Property crimes do seem to be on a downswing though.
Fraud files may appear to be a concern, but Baird clarified that since he arrived in Westlock, he has been requiring that complaint calls about phone scams be filed and forwarded to fraud investigations. This skews the property crime numbers a bit and makes it appear there’s a big spike, but a closer look shows this isn’t the case.
Break and enters are down, theft over and under $5,000 is down and arson is even down by one. Mischief is up by a about a dozen, but vehicle thefts and possession of stolen goods files were both stagnant.
Across the province in 2018, 480 fewer homes have been broken into; 3,442 fewer thefts have occurred; 1,257 fewer cars have been stolen and there has been a 10 per cent decrease in rural property crime in Alberta RCMP jurisdictions, according to a Feb. 5 Facebook post from the official RCMP account. So someone must be doing something right.
In March, the province committed $10 million to hire more rural officers, administration staff and Crown prosecutors.
The strategy of targeting prolific offenders seems to be working, even locally. Baird pointed out to council that targeting these offenders is part of Westlock detachment’s annual performance plan and he has seen results.
By cooperating with probation, officers are now more aware of the conditions of those who are released and the offenders typically don’t appreciate the extra scrutiny and either shape up or move out of town.
Although we’ll never get rid of crime altogether, as the subject is complicated and vast, it can eventually be minimized by employing the right strategies, as we’ve seen by RCMP in Alberta in the last year.
