WESTLOCK – While local RCMP dealt with more Criminal Code files in Westlock County in 2022 compared to the two previous years, they’re still well behind the five-year highs recorded in 2018 and 2019.
Acting Westlock RCMP Detachment commander Cpl. Riley Sutherland presented the year-end crime stats to Westlock County councillors at their Feb. 21 committee of the whole meeting noting they’re “within normal ranges over the last five years” as they handled 505 Criminal Code files in 2022, up slightly over the 452 in 2021 and 398 in 2020, but well below the 605 in 2019 and 670 in 2018.
Meanwhile, December 2022 was the second lowest for Criminal Code files in the past five years and tied 2018 as police handled only 34 cases that month compared to 63 in 2021 and 53 in 2020, while the lowest was 2020 when there were 22 recorded.
“We’re slightly lower than the five-year highs, which is nice, but we’re starting to see a bit of an increase in some areas,” Sutherland told councillors.
“Overall, over the five years, things are going down but we are definitely seeing an increase from the COVID period of the last couple of years.”
The largest jump came in person crimes, like assaults and criminal harassment, as they handled 108 files in 2022, the highest in the last five years with 93, 75, 87 and 91 recorded from 2018 to 2021 respectively. Property offences, like break and enters and thefts over and under $5,000, came in at 341 for 2022 which is higher than the 255 and 305 in 2020 and 2021, but well below the 463 and 425 on the books in 2018 and 2019.
Sutherland also provided more in-depth stats noting that while break and enters dropped from 66 in 2021 to 55 in 2022, vehicle thefts increased from 28 to 42 over the same period.
She also noted a significant jump of mischief to property, which spiked at 114 in 2022 and is well above the five-year average of 69 which she attributed to their coding of calls that’s “giving us a more accurate reflection of what’s going on.”
She also noted that they did 80 wellness checks last year, up from the five-year average of 29.5, while suspicious vehicle reporting dropped to 38 compared to 126 in 2021 and 250-plus yearly from 2018 to 2020.
“It can be things like someone’s mother normally calls them every day and hasn’t and she’s elderly and we’re asked to check to see if she’s alright. There might be one where a person has a concern for the mental health of a family member,” she explained on the wellness checks. “So, sometimes it’s absolutely nothing and other times there are health issues or other things … it can be a wide variety.”
And while total provincial traffic hit a staggering total of 3,855 files, that’s well below the five-year high of 4,975 files in 2021 — from 2018 to 2020 the numbers are 2,771, 2,376 and 3,047.
Motor vehicle collisions hit 274 in 2022, the highest since the 317 recorded in 2018 but close to the five-year average of 264, while false/abandoned calls continue to be an issue as there were 366 in 2022, up over the previous high of 330 in 2021, while from 2018 to 2022 there were 213, 270 and 296 annually.
