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Westlock's crime stats trending upward

Town council hears year-end numbers from Westlock’s top cop
westlock RCMP detachment
Town of Westlock RCMP dealt with 221 more files in 2019 than they did in 2018.

WESTLOCK - While the crime rate in Westlock County appears to have decreased slightly over the last year, within the Town of Westlock local RCMP dealt with 221 more files than they did in 2018.

That coming from Westlock’s RCMP Detachment commander Staff Sgt. Al Baird as he presented his year-end report to town councillors at their Jan. 20 meeting.

Baird noted specifically that there were 21 more persons crimes, such as assault, robbery and uttering threats, than the previous year and 98 more property crimes, like break-and-enter, mischief and theft, which “are up significantly.”

Fraud was the only crime to show a significant decrease from year-to-year, dropping from 189 in 2018 to 71 in 2019.

There were also 85 more Criminal Code files handled by the Westlock detachment with the town limits last year. RCMP also responded to 84 more complaints of suspicious vehicles, but that could be a positive sign, said Baird.

“In a sense that is good news because our message is getting out there with people calling in with these things so we can go investigate them.”

Reporting incidents and suspected crimes has been a key point to Baird’s message to residents since he took up his post in town in early 2018.

The rise in the crime rate also contributed to the detachment’s inability to decrease overall crime stats by 10 per cent, which was a goal of the annual performance plan set out at the beginning of the years.

“We’re close to that at about five or six per cent … so despite efforts to catch people we’re still having this. (Members) have been successful in catching people, so that does help,” said Baird.

“In one sense, we want people to report and by pushing that part of it I would expect to see numbers increase a bit if people are going to report it. It helps give us a more accurate idea of what is happening in town.”

The subject of not having 24-hour policing was also discussed as it is a common concern of residents.

“It would be nice to be able to have enough members to have 24-hour policing, but the problem, as we all know, is if the province isn’t going to put that forward, then who is?” said Baird. “We’re just not able to do that with 11 people … the schedule is maximized.”

Baird also corrected the misconception that most of the crime taking place is happening at night. Daylight hours are usually far busier, he said, using that very day as an example, as members responded to 24 calls during the day, 23 of which were within town.

“I haven’t seen a day like that since I’ve been here,” he said.

Mayor Ralph Leriger commented that catching the criminals isn’t always a problem. The problem is a lack of consequences once they are caught, he said.

Baird agreed: “They’re going to get let go and when they’re out, with no fear of consequence, they’re back at it again until we catch them again. Sometimes it’s not always that easy and they might commit five or six crimes and we only have evidence to charge them with two, so until they change that aspect of it, we’re just left playing by the rules they’ve given us.”

Coun. Murtaza Jamaly was curious about how the Westlock numbers stacked up against other similar communities in the province.

Baird didn’t have specific examples, but said the stats are likely very similar, but every community is unique. For example, Westlock is closer to the city than many others and many of those who are caught committing crime in this area, come from the city.

“We see crime on an upward trend and it’s really hard for us to determine whether or not we are making the right decisions,” said Jamaly. “I’d like to know if other communities are seeing similar trends and whether we are in line with the provincial averages because when I think about our goals and strategies, the reality is there is always going to be too much crime because one crime is too much crime.”

Since 2016, the total numbers of crimes committed in town has nearly doubled from 682 to 1,120.

Baird finished by encouraging the public to keep on reporting incidents and suspicious activity, not to make it easy for criminals to make them victims, and above all, to watch out for each other.

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