BARRHEAD - Barrhead's interim RCMP Detachment commander, Cpl Filipe Vicente, had good and bad news for town councillors during their May 14 meeting.
The good news is that crime is trending downward overall. The bad news is that not all crime categories decreased.
He said over the last few months, he noticed that the detachment's call volume was notably lower than the previous year.
Vicente ran 'K' Division stats for the detachment, and they confirmed what he suspected.
"From January to March, compared to the same time last year, we are down over 100 calls, and from Jan. 1 to now, we are almost down 170 calls," Vicente said.
Unfortunately, while the overall number of files is down, Barrhead RCMP has dealt with an increase of persons crimes (crimes committed directly against individuals rather than property) in 2024 compared to the same time last year by about 20 charges, Vincente said, adding that specifically, sexual offences have increased.
From January to the end of March, police responded to eight sexual offences (seven sexual assault files and one other sexual offence), compared to three last year (one sexual assault and two other sexual offences) over the same period.
"The sexual assaults, a lot of them, are actually historic," Vicente said. "We've had an individual that has been charged with multiple counts on multiple victims."
Assaults also increased in the first quarter of 2024 compared to 2023, going from 22 to 29.
Many of those assaults, Vicente said, were of the domestic abuse variety.
The categories of criminal harassment and uttering threats also saw slight increases, going from four to six and five to seven, respectively. Barrhead RCMP also dealt with two extortion files and one kidnapping/hostage or abduction file.
Property crimes down slightly
On the property side, police responded to 117 calls in the first three months of 2024, compared to 132 over the same period in 2023. Theft under $5,000 led the way at 45, followed by fraud, break-and-enter, and motor vehicle theft at 23, 17, and 12. Rounding out the bottom property crime categories are possession of stolen goods, theft over $5,000, mischief-damage to property, mischief-other, and arson at five, two, and one.
"A good part of the decrease in property crimes is that some of the people that have caused us issues in the past are no longer in the community or are now in jail," Vicente said.
Barrhead RCMP also saw a decrease in the first quarter of 2024 of 23 per cent or 10 files in other criminal code offences, including offensive weapons, disturbing the peace and failure to comply with court orders and other breaches, going from 44 in 2023 to 34 in 2024, with the highest being failure to comply followed by disturbing the peace and offensive weapons, at seven, three and two, respectively. The Criminal Code of Canada defines an offensive weapon as any weapon that is capable of causing harm or injury to another person.
The number of drug enforcement files also dropped slightly by two, from 10 in the first quarter of 2023 to 8 in 2024, as did the number of provincial files, which includes offences under the Liquor, Cannabis and Mental Health Acts, going from 74 to 58.
However, Vicente said the most dramatic drop was the number of provincial traffic offences, which went from 783 in the first quarter of 2023 to 300 in the corresponding 2024 period.
The detachment was three members short for much of the time.
"That is probably the main reason there," Vicente said, adding members do proactive activities, such as patrols and traffic stops when they are not responding to other calls. He also noted that the Westlock RCMP Traffic Detachment was down two members during the same time frame, contributing to the lower statistics. Vicente said that RCMP members from other detachments were brought in to help fill the gap, but it did not allow police to be as proactive as they would have liked.
He noted the lack of traffic stops also contributed to the decrease in other categories, referring to those under provincial legislation.
"When a member does a traffic stop, they may see an open liquor bottle, drugs or even weapons," Vicente said.
Detachment nearing full strength
He added that the detachment is close to full strength and is only short of its permanent commanding officer, the previously announced Sgt. Colin Hack.
Hack is the acting commander of the provincial K-9 unit, and he will arrive in Barrhead as soon as his house sells. If his house does not sell soon, Vicente said. Hack is contemplating commuting from nearby Parkland County.
Coun. Rod Klumph asked if the student resource officer (SRO) Const. Karen Vicente also contributed to the lower crime statistics.
"The interaction with a police officer at the school level and having that connection has to have some positive impact on our community," he said.
Vicente said definitely. In addition to presenting at the schools, the SRO is often able to intervene before a situation escalates to the point that official police involvement is required.
"Even some of our members do not know the work the SRO does until they learn that their work and intervention prevented an additional three or four files from being generated," he said. "I know [the Westlock Detachment] has been begging for a school resource officer, and it sounds like they finally got approval."
