WESTLOCK – For the first two months of 2021, crimes like break and enter, fraud and theft under $5,000 continue to plummet in Westlock and are down close to 60 per cent compared to 2020.
And while property crimes have gone down substantially, with 57 reported in January and February 2021, versus 137 over the same two months in 2020, person crimes, like assaults and harassment, are also down 40 per cent, while other Criminal Code offences, like failing to comply with release conditions, have dropped 37 per cent.
In total, the detachment has dealt with 94 Criminal Code files so far in 2021, versus 197 in 2020 and 126 in 2019, while the February total of 37 Criminal Code cases is less than half the 2020 number of 75 and still 25 below the 62 handled by police in 2019.
Westlock RCMP Staff Sgt Al Baird says continued decline is good news for the community, although he says people still need to stay vigilant. The crime numbers were included during Baird’s monthly report to town council March 22.
“Right now we’re trying to encourage people to keep calling in and do preventative measures so we can keep these numbers low. We know crimes are going to happen so the first line of defence is the person or business — what are they doing to make it harder for someone to steal from them?” said Baird in a follow-up interview March 25.
“We try to use the prevention part to keep the numbers down. Trying to solve, say a break and enter, after the fact is one thing, but trying to get the property back can be tough as well. So we’ll see what the year holds going forward and if we need to make adjustments or try different initiatives if the numbers increase then we’ll do that too.”
Drilling down, theft under $5,000, break and enter, fraud, mischief (damage to property) and possession of stolen property have seen the largest drops. There’s only been nine B&Es this year, versus 29 in 2020, and 17 theft under $5,000 files compared to 39 the previous year.
Mischief (damage to property) files sit as 12, versus 21 in 2020, with four fraud cases, compared to 22 last year and no possession of stolen property charges versus seven the previous year.
Meanwhile, there’s only been two drug offences recorded in 2021 versus four the previous year, while all traffic offences stand at 20, versus 45 the previous year — there’s been no roadside suspensions so far for drinking or drugs. Interestingly the only stats up over last year are under the Mental Health Act and the Other Provincial Stats category — only 23 cases were reported in each category last year, while through two months they stand at 31 and 32 respectively.
The 2020 clearance rates are also in and Baird said that although they didn’t hit their goal, they were able to achieve their crime reduction target.
“From last year we had a break and enter (clearance) rate of 9.2 and this year we had a clearance rate of 12.7. For 2019 for theft of motor vehicles we had a clearance rate of 27.3 and in 2020 we had a clearance rate of 15.4 per cent. For theft under in 2019 it was 16 per cent and this past year it was 13.3 per cent. So, we didn’t really meet the clearance rate number above 26 per cent in those instances. That was a very aggressive number that was set by ‘K’ Division. So we do have room for improvement there and we can improve,” Baird told councillors March 24, noting property crimes are notoriously difficult to solve.
“But as far as reducing break and enter, theft under and theft of motor vehicles by seven per cent — in 2019 had 109 B&Es while in 2020 we had 71 which is a 35 per cent decrease. Theft of motor vehicles in 2019 was 55 and in 2020 it was 39, so that was a 29 per cent reduction. For 2019, for theft under, there was 225 and in 2020 it was 158 which is 30 per cent reduction. So we did meet that part of our APP (annual performance plan).”
