ATHABASCA – While crime jumped slightly in the Athabasca region when comparing 2022 to 2021, Criminal Code offences for the final three months of the year were the lowest on record since 2018.
Athabasca RCMP Staff Sgt. Mark Hall was in front of Town of Athabasca and Athabasca County councillors Feb. 7-8 to present not only the final crimes stats from last year as part of a 15-page presentation, but a detailed breakdown of the third-quarter numbers highlighted by a 44 per cent drop in total provincial traffic files.
“I’ve got a great crew, an absolutely great staff that are able to handle these investigations,” said Staff Sgt. Hall, noting the detachment is currently fully staffed.
Mayor Rob Balay and reeve Brian Hall gave kudos to Staff Sgt. Hall and his crew saying the community appreciates the work that’s been done. The stats show that in 2022, Athabasca handled 1,282 Criminal Code files, up six per cent over the 1,207 they took care of in 2021. Diving in deeper, there were 242 persons crimes in 2022 compared to 284 in 2021, while property crimes jumped slightly, from 680 in 2021 to 707 in 2022. ‘Other Criminal Code’ for the year sat at 333 versus 243 in 2021, a number that increased due to more focus on habitual offenders breaching conditions of their release, which Staff Sgt. Hall called “targeted enforcement.”
“The statistics here are not jarring in anyway,” said Staff Sgt. Hall during the presentation to the county, highlighting the decrease in persons crimes, as well as the minor decreases in property crimes when compared to the same time in the previous year.
As for other stats, there was a 30 per cent drop in Criminal Code traffic (33 in 2022 versus 47 in 2021) while provincial code traffic was all-but static, 1,362 last year versus 1,340 in 2021, while ‘other traffic’ file stood at three in 2022 versus eight in 2021. Finally, CDSA (drug) stats were static, 24 in 2022 versus 21 in 2021, while ‘other provincial act’ dropped dramatically from 467 in 2021 to 298 last year. Motor vehicle collisions in 2022 dropped to 462 from 492 the year prior, while ‘other provincial acts’ dropped 36 per cent (298 in 2022 versus 467 in 2021).
Community engagement key, says Staff Sgt.
Over the final three months of 2022, the RCMP conducted 17 different “community consultation” meetings, which includes school presentations on appropriate use of social media and substance abuse, debriefs with EMS on recent calls, and meeting with judicial officials about upcoming court changes.
The school presentations, as well as informal visits conducted by officers on patrol, have been a huge success. Youth justice has been a hot topic in the Athabasca region for years, and as Hall put it “every repeat offender commits their first crime.”
“I think the information provided by Staff Sgt. Hall and Sgt. (Dennis) Properzi (of the Boyle RCMP Detachment) shows they are working hard, and tackling the problems that are concerning our residents,” said reeve Hall in a follow-up interview. “I think they deserve a lot of accolades for the job they do.”
Community engagement is going to remain a measured statistic said Staff Sgt. Hall, so the local cops will still be active and engaged in the communities, but it will not be a highlighted priority for the current quarter. Instead, two investigative areas will be in police headlights: drugs and property crime.
Balay called the presentation “encouraging”, adding that “it’s always good when the stats go down as opposed to escalating.”
“It’s also good to know that we have a full complement of staff, and that the staff really like working in the area and I think that reflects on how they serve the area. I think it was an excellent report, we were very happy with it,” said Balay.
