ATHABASCA – The Athabasca RCMP Detachment will soon have a full complement of members, as two new cadets have arrived at the detachment since September, and two more will be on their way by April.
That’s some of the news Staff Sgt. Paul Gilligan gave to Athabasca town council Feb. 2 as he provided an overview of some of the crimes and offences that took place within the Athabasca detachment area in the first 10 months of 2020. All but one occurrence type — sexual assaults —was down compared to the same time period in 2019, though most of them only slightly.
To start, Gilligan pointed out that traffic accidents remain steady, falling by seven to 103 in 2020. The number of provincial traffic charges is also down, from 492 to 296, but he cautioned much of the decrease is the likely result of the Alberta Sheriffs leaving the integrated traffic unit.
Sexual assaults did rise from two in 2019 to four in 2020.
Weapons offences were down from four to two; drug charges went from eight to seven; and total persons crimes fell from 27 to 21. Thefts under $5,000 went from 97 to 95, while vehicle thefts fell from 24 to 20. Fraud charges were down by just one, from 21 to 20.
Break and enters were down significantly falling from 63 in 2019 to 31 in 2020.
“I think some of this is just a result of COVID and some of it's just a result of hammering away at the prolific offenders,” Gilligan said.
Gilligan did take time to point out drastic decreases in mischief charges.
“Our mischief charges are down from 222 in 2019 to 157 in 2020, but I expect that number to drop, probably another 50 at least with the introduction of the MAT program,” he said. “We're not getting nearly the complaints we were from the banks of people hanging out in the vestibules there. So, I look at that as having a very positive impact on our job.”
As far as staffing, two members are off-duty and a reserve constable is filling in at the office for 30 hours a week, but one cadet is expected to graduate mid-February, and another at the end of March, which will bring the detachment up to a full complement of 14 officers. Const. Rachel Dorrington arrived in Athabasca in January, following Const. Cody Bishop, who started last September.
“Every constable we're going to have here by the end April will have started here, so all I get is cadets,” Gilligan said.
New cadets are required to be with a senior training officer at all times for the first eight weeks at their posting.
“And then after two months they can drive their own car and respond to calls, as long as there's other people working and overseeing them up until the six-month point,” said Gilligan.
On another good note, he said that transferred members that owned houses in the area, have all managed to sell them.
“One of the good news stories is pretty much all our members who had houses for sale here, even though some of them are on the market for years, have sold. So, in terms of becoming a more attractive place for people to come, that’s great news,” he said.
