The report last week given to Athabasca town council by the RCMP demonstrated two things – that the town is relatively safe and that there continue to be some troubling crime concerns.
Assaults going up are always troubling, regardless of the reason why they happen, and domestic violence calls are equally as concerning since the figure remained virtually unchanged from 2013. The fact that weapons calls rose should also hit people’s radar in Athabasca.
All three of these trends are disturbing for the lone fact that it demonstrates a propensity toward violence in the community. Combine this with a jump in property crime in the region and it shows the need for people to be very careful in both keeping their stuff safe as well as themselves.
However, Athabasca continues to be a relatively safe place as the vast majority of crimes against people were down significantly in 2014 and there were just three vehicle collisions in town that caused injuries. The fact it’s been several years since a fatal collision has taken place in town is quite the accomplishment, given the amount of traffic and the placement of highways and intersections here.
While Athabasca is still a safe community, there remains trouble in the neighbourhood and people should stay vigilant.
