Trail and Greater District RCMP have seen their lowest number of calls for service in five years according to the 2024 yearly statistics.
Sgt Mike Wicentowich says the creation of the new 25 bed shelter and assistance from the mental health nurse has contributed to the drop in the amount of service required.
“The calls that the police would typically receive did not happen and/or were diverted to the health care system or supporting agency. We believe that policing will involve more outside agencies and partnership to help address crime and justice, and associated issues.” said Sgt Wicentowich.
Here are the 2024 highlights:
- 1 homicide/2 attempted murders
- 105 assaults (down from 136 in 2023)
- 30 sexual offences (up from 22 in 2023)
- 2 robberies (down from 6 in 2023)
- 29 auto theft (up from 25 in 2023)
- 43 break and enters (down from 68 in 2023)
- 33 theft from motor vehicle (down from 47 in 2023)
- 32 drug investigations (same as 2023)
- 108 motor vehicle collisions (up from 106 in 2023)
- 48 impaired driving (down from 57 in 2023)
- 335 Motor Vehicle Act violations (down from 359 in 2023)
- 189 mental health related calls (up from 174 in 2023)
- 290 files involving alcohol/drugs (up from 215 in 2023)
- 185 check wellbeing incidents (down from 209 in 2023)
- 323 suspicious person/vehicle/occurrence (down from 385 in 2023)
- 216 unspecified assistance (down from 322 in 2023)
- Total of 230 person and violence related criminal code files (down from 255 in 2023)
- Total of 708 property related criminal code files (down from 714 in 2023)
- Total of 1344 criminal code related files (down from 1419 in 2023)
- Total of 5533 calls for service in 2024 (down from 5883 in 2023)
“We believe that sexual assault reporting is up due to the Trail RCMP working with local partners to increase the ease and ability of victims to report sex related crimes to the police. We still have a lot of work to do but we hope all survivors can come forward to the police to tell their story.”
One statistic that is not included in the statistics but will appear in 2025, is the “Fail to Appear” statistic. Trail RCMP had 115 incidents where someone failed to appear in court and a process, such as a warrant for their arrest, was implemented.
“Trail RCMP, like other policing jurisdictions, are routinely arresting and managing clients who fail to appear for their court matters and their trials. This has proved quite a burden for the police and may contribute to the perception of a “revolving door” justice system.”
“Release and bail hearings are now regularly conducted from within policing cell blocks and place an operation and administrative pressure on the police to facilitate sometimes multiple court hearings a week.”
“Unfortunately, this can remove officers from the road and their main duties. Most people are released back into the general public even though some have missed multiple court date appearances, or committed new offences.”
“Trail RCMP understands that there is presumption of innocence, and why this occurs, but provide a new challenged in managing valuable police time and resources.”
“We anticipate this task continuing through 2025.” said Sgt. Wicentowich.
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