Crime climbing in Battleford, but mayor touts the positive

Altogether, crime is up 21 per cent

By Miguel Fenrich Staff Reporter

At Battleford town council’s Feb. 6 meeting, Inspector Jesse Gilbert gave council the RCMP’s Q4 report, which shows crime up almost across the board.

Currently, the RCMP is focusing on four categories as they work to enhance policing efforts in the detachment. The four categories include:

• Prolific offenders

• Traffic safety

• Gangs

• Property crime

The RCMP is also focusing on building trust with three initiatives, including engagement with elected officials, community members and schools, with visits and events following COVID-19 restrictions.

“We’ve had good engagement with elected officials; we get out into the community and engage with groups of people,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert believes the RCMP is relatively good in terms of staffing. With some sick, maternity and paternity leave, they are majority operational. They have some hard vacancies, but within the next three to four months, he predicts numbers will stabilize by summer.

But for crime, Battleford’s numbers are on the rise, and residents can expect a stronger police presence int he community in the coming months.

“Battleford has definitely seen an uptick between 2021 and 2022 … I think if you look at the long-term numbers from 2018, there has been a fairly steady climb up,” Gilbert said.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, compared to 2021, calls for service in Battleford increased by 5.3 per cent to 356. Assaults are up 68 per cent. The trafficking or possession of stolen goods is up 175 per cent.

However, false alarms are down 11 per cent, suspicious people, vehicles or property are down 11 per cent, and collisions are down 38 per cent.

Altogether, crime is up 21 per cent.

“This helps us dedicate our resources where they need to be dedicated,” Gilbert said, regarding the crime statistics.

Councillor Judy Pruden noted that according to the report, the RM of Battle River had three times as many calls as the Town of Battleford in Q4, at 983 occurrences.

Inspector Gilbert could not determine if that spike was due to increased vigilance from the RCMP, or a spike in crime, but offered to have RCMP analyists look deeper and return to the council.

“I appreciate this for sure, the time that you’re willing to spend,” Mayor Ames Leslie said, adding, “For additional services, you said there was a CRT team. Do we still have a full K9 unit in town?”

“We still have one … we’ve noticed an impact,” Gilbert said, though he could not share those statistics as they are not his unit.

Gilbert noted that there has been a renewed focus on Citizens on Patrol Program and said that the newly relevant relationship has been very positive.

“We’re hoping to outgrow the detachment completely, and they have

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N.B. home sales better than most

SASKTODAY.ca

Many regions across the province experienced a year-over-year decline in real estate sales, apart from and North Battleford and Moose Jaw.

“Rising lending rates paired with ongoing inflationary pressures are impacting what individuals can afford, and our market has struggled to see improvements in supply levels in lowerpriced homes,” said Saskatchewan Realtors Association CEO Chris Guérette. North Battleford had 12 sales in the month of January, with 26 new listings, while Battleford had four sales and five new listings.