Insp. Jesse Gilbert of Battlefords RCMP gives presentation to Town Mayor Ames Leslie and councillors. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

RCMP Stats

Battlefords RCMP ‘cautiously optimistic’ about new statistics

Nov 21, 2023 | 3:00 PM

The Battlefords RCMP are “cautiously optimistic” as they are seeing a decrease over the last few quarters in the number of offenses committed.

“The five-year trends, we’re still up,” said Insp. Jesse Gilbert, Battlefords RCMP detachment commander told Town Council on Mon., Nov. 20.

“There was a 12 per cent increase overall between April and June but then we had a 43 per cent decrease in July to September.”

He explained the detachment has been trying to address visibility issues and relying on units outside of their control.

“We’ve accessed traffic services, who have agreed to come in and do a lot of checkstops here,” he said.

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Gilbert said he also wanted to inform councillors of a “special project” between the city and the town that ran over a few days last month.

“With that project, we had 500 vehicles stopped, 159 tickets issued, 12 inspections completed, 234 warnings issued, 29 vehicles impounded, a suspended driver,” he said, noting there were other tests issued.

“The numbers aren’t great but we’re happy that we actually have them out and we’re able to do that proactive work.”

According to Gilbert, he can’t say conclusively whether there is a correlation between the decrease in crimes of opportunity and the RCMP visibility.

“You are seeing a reduction in property crime, so I’m hoping it is related. We’re going to have to wait and see what the next two quarters look like to see if this is just a blip or if there’s going to be some more concreate trends going on.”

When it comes to the more serious crimes, so far, there’s been one homicide this year, although drug offenses have jumped 200 per cent – from one to three offenses measuring the two-month period of July to September of 2022-23.

“That was actually the result of proactive work. We had two warrants executed in the town that were based purely on proactive work by the members of the detachment,” he said.

At the conclusion of his presentation, Gilbert reiterated he was happy with what the data was telling them.

“I just don’t want to say that they’re going to stay that way but I’m happy with the trend so far.”

Following a brief question period, Councillor David George asked what they attribute the change of the more positive numbers to and Gilbert explained they couldn’t say for sure.

“It could be something that we’re not even aware of – like I say – people coming and going from the community who were committing a lot of offenses before and now not,” he said adding the spikes on the page aren’t in calls.

“It’s a spike in the members going out and seeking out the work.”

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

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