WESTLOCK – Crime continued its upward swing between April and June of this year, with significant jumps in overall Criminal Code matters and property crime in particular.
At the Aug. 8, Town of Westlock’s regular council meeting Westlock RCMP Staff Sgt. Al Baird presented the quarterly community crime stats for April to June, which saw significant jumps in overall Criminal Code matters, which is up 77 per cent from the same time last year, increasing from 159 files to 281. Property crime is also up a whopping 132 per cent, from 82 to 190 this year.
“Persons crimes have only gone up three files during that time from last year, whereas you see that property crime has gone up 108 files and other Criminal Code matters are sitting at 38 per cent,” said Baird, noting the breakdown of numbers in such areas as break and enter, theft over $5,000 and theft under $5,000, among others.
“You’ll see that the break and enters this year have gone up more than last year and all of those (stats for selected property crimes), said Baird. “We’re back to work, people are out of their homes and we also want to make sure that we’re taking part in preventative measures … make sure we’re being sharp, looking out for our properties, making sure that we’re keeping our properties as safe as we can and we’re helping look out for one another.”
While persons crimes have only increased by three files from 48 to 51 from the same time last year, the total Criminal Code stats have increased by 122 from the previous year, noted Baird, adding that collisions were also up slightly from 30 to 33 this year.
“Is it just because of COVID numbers from the past couple of years and people were inside and now people are out and they’re travelling more frequently so those numbers are up,” he said. “We’ll keep an eye out and we’ll continue to engage and try to have preventative measures out there.”
Break and enters are up 16 files from five to 21, while theft of motor vehicle is up slightly from five to 11 files with theft over $5,000 seeing a decrease from two files to one. Theft under $5,000 saw a substantial jump from 14 to 45 for the same period.
Baird noted that in continuing to work with the community to help reduce crime in the area, RCMP encourages people to be on the lookout, especially local businesses and highlighted recent crimes against them, urging them to install security measures that would help protect them.
“If you can afford cameras, put them up especially businesses. (We) really encourage businesses to get alarm systems even if it’s just an alarm to your phone — some way so the businesses know something’s happening, that they can be detected and we can make a response,” said Baird. “We’ve had multiple break-ins to several businesses and all we can do is encourage them to try to take some pro-active steps to help deter it while we try to find out who’s done it.”
In his report, Baird also noted the 2022-2025 joint business plan, which has been finalized and is now in effect.
”This was created through a united effort through the Alberta RCMP and Justice and Solicitor General (JSG). This three-year plan is focused on ensuring Albertans are safe and protected,” said Baird, noting meetings between RCMP, JSG and community partners helped develop priorities for the next three years. “These meetings, in addition to the recommendations from the interim police advisory board helped identify emerging trends and best practices while providing clarity on the needs of our community.”
The joint business plan is focused on six priorities including enhancing engagement and communication with communities and stakeholders, community safety and well-being, Indigenous communities, equity, diversity, and inclusion, crime reduction, and enhancing service delivery.
“Although they’ve come up with this, if you’ve been around since I’ve been here, these are things we’ve been working on from day one,” said Baird. “It’s my belief that policing is only reflective of the community and without the community we can’t have effective policing, so we need that to work all together with that.”
