By Greg Higgins

Overall crime down 6 per cent in the Battlefords

Dec 14, 2017 | 4:00 PM

According to the most recent crime statistics for the Battlefords area, some serious offenses are up in the past year, but overall crime is down by 6 per cent.

While on paper serious offenses like sexual assaults, arson and grand theft are up this year in the Battlefords, RCMP said when broken down, the stats actually reveal good headway being made in crime reduction.   

According to Staff Sgt. Darcy Woolfitt with the Battlefords RCMP, he attributes the drop in crime to increased programs to reduce crime by the detachment and community.

“We have our new crime prevention and crime reduction unit in place at the detachment. There are four personnel involved in the unit. They do outreach to the schools in the city as well as the rural areas.”

According to the most recent Serious Incident Review obtained by battlefordsNOW, sexual assaults are up from a total of 54 in 2016 to 60 so far this year. Arson cases are up 33 per cent and theft over $5,000 is up 17 per cent.

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Woolfitt said the numbers don’t necessarily paint the whole picture because those are the total number of files, not charges or convictions.

“In 2016 of those 54 sexual assault files only 16 went to charge,” Woolfitt said. “Of the 60 so far this year, only 10 have gone to charge. There are a variety of reasons the others didn’t go to charge.”

Woolfitt explained some of those reasons include the files were deemed “unfounded,” which means the information provided couldn’t be confirmed. Others have been investigated and deemed unsubstantiated or are still under investigation.

As for arson cases, Woolfitt said there were 23 cases last year and this year has been identical so far. He added the majority of arson reports are stolen vehicles taken to rural areas and set on fire. Of those 23 reported cases, only three were in North Battleford.

Not all crimes are up though, as break and enters along with kidnappings are way down. According to Woolfitt, the kidnapping stat is a broad term that includes forcible confinement, which tends to be directly related to other crimes.

“The only bonafide kidnapping case we had was in 2014. There are situations that fall under forcible confinement where people are kept inside their residence by a suspect committing a break and enter, assault or it could be an ongoing domestic situation. Forcible confinement is any situation where a person is being prevented from leaving the residence.

Break and enters dropped 15 per cent this year and kidnappings fell 33 per cent.

Woolfitt listed a plethora of projects including the Community Safety and Enhancement Strategy, Community Prevention through Environmental Design, the HUB program and many more. The Sergeant believes these programs, along with participation from the community, have not only caused the drop in crime, but will continue to improve the decrease in the future.

Crime Stat Highlights

Sexual Assaults: 2016 – 32; 2017 – 40

Assault: 2016 – 614; 2017 – 647

Robbery: 2016 – 21; 2017 – 29

Break and Enter: 2016 – 329; 2017 – 281

Theft of Motor Vehicle: 2016 – 253; 2017 – 259

Michief: 2016 – 1,473; 2017 – 1,316

Fraud: 2016 – 173; 2017 – 125

greg.higgins@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @realgreghiggins