ATHABASCA – Calls to the Athabasca RCMP Detachment are on the high side in the last few months specifically, but members also got high praise at town council’s Aug. 16 meeting from their commanding officer for the “extremely good work” they’ve been doing to make significant progress against crime in the region.
S/Sgt. Mark Hall was joined by Const. Rachel Dorrington to fill council in on the first quarter stats for April-June 2022 but opened with an extended update that included stats to that day, an additional six weeks. Hall often brings along another member for his quarterly reports to give them some experience sitting before a municipal council.
“I ran it just before I came in here, but from April 1 to today’s date we have had 2,268 calls for service to this detachment. It does appear to me to be a little higher,” Hall noted, saying that number includes stats from the traffic unit as well.
Hall started with the drug enforcement work members have been doing, which is also the first priority of three council recommended earlier this year as part of the RCMP’s annual performance plan.
“There has been some extremely good work done by this detachment,” Hall said, emphasizing the word extremely. “There have been some great investigations that have happened and as of this report here in the first quarter, we did three search warrants, which got illicit drugs, weapons and stolen property back for people.”
He also noted the most recent bust also recovered a stolen handgun after a large investigation.
These kinds of results are also important for the surrounding region beyond county lines, as Athabasca leads to points north, he added.
“So, it really is helping not just our community here but it's actually making a difference everywhere else. Members are really, really working hard,” Hall said.
“That’s great, please thank them for us,” said mayor Rob Balay. “It’s nice to have good news.”
Hall went on share the year-over-year numbers in multiple crime categories, which showed a small, two per cent increase in total Criminal Code files which included a seven per cent increase in person crimes, up from 56 in 2021 to 60 in 2022, but a 13 per cent decrease in property crimes from 192 to 167 — a focus members of the public urged during several virtual meetings since Hall arrived almost exactly one year ago. As it happens, public engagement is the second priority identified in the annual performance plan.
Hall attributed the decrease in drug offences, property crime and recidivism to several proactive measures including the detachment’s offender management program, the introduction of a crime reduction member, and increased visibility in the community. However, that focus has also seen a corresponding increase in other Criminal Code and federal act violations. The Other Criminal Code category, for instance, saw an increase from 64 to 91 during the same months this year.
“During my time in the force, we’re really looking at things quite differently now, it’s more intelligence led, instead of running around just chasing people, we're actually looking at trying to prevent this stuff. And if it does happen, how do we actually get to a positive result?” Hall said.
“I like hearing about what you’re doing as far as community engagement initiatives. You’re doing great and I think that’s awesome,” said Balay. “We love that we feel safe in our community.”
