WESTLOCK – Total Criminal Code files within the Town of Westlock for the first six months of 2023 have decreased by 27 per cent, while some files, like mischief – damage to property, continue to rise.
Westlock RCMP Detachment acting commander Cpl. Riley Sutherland provided some details on those numbers and other crimes when she presented the community crime statistics for January to July 2023 at the Aug. 14 town council meeting.
“Theft over $5,000 is slightly up but theft under $5,000 is actually significantly down,” said Sutherland.
Total property files, which include theft over and under $5,000 were down by about 100 files from 388 in 2022 to 290 this year and slightly down from 363 in 2019. Theft over $5,000 increased slightly over the past year, from two to four files after a steady decrease from 2019 to 2022 that saw numbers drop from seven to two. Theft under $5,000 saw a significant decrease, as noted by Sutherland, decreasing from 80 files in 2022 to 45 this year and from 134 in 2019. Other areas of note under total property include decreases in break and enter, from 51 in 2019 and 45 files in 2022 to 15 this year, while theft of motor vehicle sits at 12 which is slightly down from 18 in 2019 and 25 in 2022. Fraud is also down from 41 files in 2019 and 49 in 2022 to 23 this year.
Pointing out a slight increase in mischief such as breaking into vehicles and graffiti, Sutherland said mischief - damage to property was up over the past year from 45 to 47 while it jumped 40 files from 2019. Mischief – other is up almost 10 files from last year with an increase from 126 to 133 in 2023, while the number jumped from 78 in 2019.
Sutherland also noted some “good success” with finding people in relation to possession of stolen property files and identifying who it belongs to.
In regard to the downward trend, total other Criminal Code offences were down from 73 in 2022 to 55 over the same time period in 2023 and significantly down from 154 while total Criminal Code files are down more than 200 cases from 569 in 2022 to 448 over the same time period in 2023 and down from 610 in 2019.
Total provincial traffic numbers saw a huge jump from 181 in 2019 and 143 files in 2022 to 726 files in 2023, while the total ‘other traffic’ and Criminal Code traffic saw slight increases with a total combined file count of 10, up from seven files in total last year and 19 files in 2019.
