Police calls are up slightly for the period of January to March 2015.
Cranbrook RCMP Staff Sgt. Dave Dubnyk presented the first quarter statistics to council on May 25. In total first quarter comparisons there were 1,399 calls in 2015 for the city, as opposed to 1,345 in 2014. There were 323 calls from the rural area in 2015, as compared to 313 in 2014.
Person offences were up 40 per cent in 2015, with 120 calls regarding assaults, sexual assaults, assault with a weapon, robbery, threats and criminal harassment — as opposed to 86 in 2014.
“A lot of times it can be just an individual or particular group that can really spike numbers,” Dubnyk said. “Although there’s a significant increase there, there was one individual in particular who moved in from another province who was causing us some problems.”
Dubnyk said he was recently taken into custody.
Property offences — which include break, enter and theft, mischief to property, thefts, and thefts from vehicles — was up 16 per cent in 2015. There were 186 calls of that nature in 2015, and 161 in 2014.
Dubnyk said there was a similar explanation for those offences being up as well.
“We had a young gentleman in town that causing us a lot of problems,” he said. “In particular with theft from vehicles. He was since taken into custody and he’s been relocated now. He’s not in Cranbrook anymore and he’s actually causing some issues for the new town he’s living in.”
Dubnyk said that since one individual can really spike the levels, he expects the levels will drop back down to more normal levels.
Offences classed under “Other” were up 28 per cent, they include cause a disturbance, breach/bail violations, firearms offences, public mischief, obstruct a police officer and counterfeit currency. Those offences were up to 88 in 2015, as compared to 69 in 2014’s quarter.
He said this too can be a matter of a few individuals pushing up the figures.
Trafficking and possession of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act were down in both the total drug files — down 25 per cent — and drug clearances — down 50 per cent. In the first quarter of 2015 there were 21 drug files created, as compared to 28 in the same period of 2014. There were 12 drug clearances in 2015, as opposed to 24 in the quarter of 2014.
Dubnyk said the drug enforcement unit has been helping with those numbers, though there was a transition.
“The unit originally started up with two officers on it, they both transferred out of town,” he said. “We moved two new officers and there’s a bit of a learning curve while they kind of got their feet under them, so there’s a bit of a dip in our drug investigative files there.”
He expects that number to go back up again.
There were no fatal motor vehicle accidents in the first quarter of 2015 or 2014.
There was one instance of impaired/refusal to take a roadside screening in the city in the first quarter of 2015, but none in that period of 2014. In the rural area there was four impaired/refusal charges and two in the quarter of 2014.
There were 13 instances of immediate roadside suspensions for the first quarter of 2015 in the city, and 16 in 2014. In the rural area, there was one immediate roadside suspension in the first quarter of 2015, compared to three in 2014.
Traffic tickets were up by 121 per cent in the first quarter. The total traffic tickets for 2015’s first quarter was 220, as compared to 95 in the same period of 2014. Notices and orders were relatively stable at 239 in 2015, compared to 220 in 2014.