WESTLOCK – For the first five months of 2022, property crimes, like mischief, theft under $5,000 and break and enters, are up 69 per cent in the Town of Westlock, while person crimes are at a five-year high as RCMP have dealt with nearly 100 more Criminal Code files compared to the same period last year.
Those were just some of the highlights as Westlock RCMP Staff Sgt. Al Baird spent 20 minutes presenting the January to May 2022 crime stats to town councillors at their June 27 meeting.
In his report, Baird noted with COVID-19 restrictions lifted and people moving freely “it was anticipated that the crime numbers may increase from years previous.”
He said the court system continues to be the “bane of our officers and victims” pointing to their annual performance plan priorities that lists prolific offenders, specifically monitoring offenders under release/probation orders, and crime prevention initiatives. That said, without any deterrence and “sentences that fit the crimes”, it becomes a revolving door for enforcement, Baird added.
“We can’t do anything about the courts. You could give me 10 more guys, but if they don’t change the system and the backlog by hiring more judges, prosecutors, and court staff … there’s not enough capacity right now,” said Baird. “Until that changes, I think we’re going to continue to see these people let out who shouldn’t be let out and held longer.”
Mayor Ralph Leriger said he had received several calls from residents who felt bad for the owners of the Westlock Butcher Shop, who were victimized in a June 23 break in, but said the concerning sentiment he heard from some was that they’re “ … not going to bother reporting crime because nothing happens.”
“And it’s not that nothing happens in terms of enforcement, it’s the process after that. When you hear people say that it’s discouraging, because we’ve worked so hard on getting good reporting that will get us the numbers we need to justify more positions,” said Leriger.
Baird too has heard that sentiment from business owners, who end up having to go to court multiple times and the offender “doesn’t get anything.”
“They’re frustrated and it’s understandable,” said Baird.
While property crimes have jumped by 100 files January to May, with 244 in 2022, compared to 144 last year, they’re trending in line with 2020 and 2019 when there were 263 and 226 files respectively — the outlier is 2018 when there were only 121. The biggest jump has been in mischief files, including damage to property, which sits at 97 compared to 54 the year previous.
Break and enters are up 18, while thefts of motor vehicles are up eight and thefts under $5,000 are up 14.
“Again, it’s one of those ones where people are reporting … and if more people are reporting that means were getting more accurate stats so we can present that to division headquarters and that may put us is in a place where they can say ‘Westlock is busy, they need another member’” said Baird.
Persons crimes, including assaults and harassment, are at their highest in five years and sit at 75, compared to 72 in 2021, 59 in 2020, 63 in 2019 and 26 in 2018.
In total, there’s been 373 Criminal Code files in 2022, a 96-file jump over 2021, but still below the 401 and 393 record in 2020 and 2019 — again, 2018 remains the outlier at 177.
Drug files are down 69 per cent (five compared to 16 last year) as are Mental Health Act files, which sit at 74 compared to 86 the previous year — in May alone there was 26 compared to 21 in the same month last year. In January to May 2020 the detachment dealt with 52 MHA files and 27 in 2019.
Baird also talked about the coming addition of the two-person Regional Police and Crisis Team, a mobile crisis response unit composed of an RCMP officer and a mental health worker from Alberta Health Services that should help deal with mental health calls.
While the hope was the position would be based in Westlock, Baird confirmed to councillors it will be based in Athabasca and handle files from a “vast area” including Westlock, Barrhead, Wabasca, Redwater and Lac La Biche.
“It’s a start. I’ve seen it work when I was in Stony Plain. It helps us,” said Baird, who hopes the program will be expanded over time.
Currently the detachment has 12 regular members, including Baird, two corporals and nine constables. Baird said they’re currently down a corporal although one has been selected and should be in town by the end of summer. That said, one of the current corporals, Leigh Drinkwater, has been promoted to sergeant and will be moving across the hall to the Westlock Traffic Services when the new corporal arrives. They’re also anticipating the new constable to be on shift July 2, while a current member is expected to transfer out this summer and will need to be replaced.
“It’s going to hit us a little harder in August when we lose Cpl. Drinkwater, although the service to the community and the surrounding areas won’t be affected at all,” he said.
