NORTH BATTLEFORD — Battlefords RCMP detachment gave their quarterly report to council Monday and there were a few areas of concern outlined.
S/Sgt Jason Teniuk reported that for the first quarter, January to March, calls for service were up from 3,324 to 4,112, a difference of 24 per cent. Over five years, calls for service are up 47 per cent.
For individual offences for the municipal North Battleford detachment, there were some notable areas of concern. One is robberies, which are up from four to 14 for the first quarter year to year.
This marks a 250 per cent increase.
The majority of these, said Teniuk, were cases where people knew each other. There were a couple of carjackings included in those numbers and those were also among people who knew each other.
Arson is also notably up for the quarter from two to nine, for a 350 per cent increase.
Most prominent among those is the major Jan. 3 apartment fire on 102nd Street, but there are other incidents as well. Teniuk said it is something they are keeping their eye on. It doesn’t look like a person or group at this point, he said, rather it was a “series of unfortunate circumstances.”
Then there is a perennial favourite topic of Teniuk’s — theft of motor vehicles.
“I take blood pressure pills for a reason, and it’s because of motor vehicles thefts,” quipped Teniuk, who reported those were up from 41 to 73 for the quarter.
Teniuk has often brought up the topic of motor vehicle thefts at municipal meetings in North Battleford and Battleford recently. Teniuk has frequently noted that a lot of those thefts were the result of vehicles being unlocked, and he made the same point again Monday.
Teniuk noted he and Sgt. Neil Tremblay had gone through those motor vehicle thefts and found that the majority of those happened when it was -40 C and people were going out and running their cars.
He also noted there was a van that was seen going around town with people jumping out to steal vehicles.
“Everybody wants to get into a motor vehicle when nobody seems to want to lock it,” said Teniuk.
Another point of concern for Teniuk was a 121 per cent increase in thefts under $5,000, from 113 to 250.
He called it a “big sign of the times we’re in right now.”
“Inflation is at a record level here. People are having trouble trying to afford things and there’s lot of stuff getting stolen. A lot of this is not car shoppers — a lot of this is just thefts. This encompasses all the thefts in the area.”
They found there is a lot of shoplifting in the area as well.
False alarms are also up substantially from 40 to 69 for a 73 per cent increase. Teniuk said that was an issue for his department because then they would have to pull an officer away from something else to deal with the false alarm.
North Battleford accounts for 63 per cent of calls in the overall detachment. The RM of Battle River was next at 11.4 per cent, followed by Battleford at 4.8 per cent.
Teniuk also acknowledged the detachment is down three and a half administrative positions right now “and that hurts us big-time.”
He noted businesses are having trouble recruiting people and “we’re no different,” noting many jobs are available and it’s easy to find employment. Overall, there are eight vacant positions at the detachment.
Teniuk noted they also had five cadets come in, and he described them as “very eager, they’re very happy to be here and they’re working really hard.”
Teniuk also mentioned the Citizens on Patrol program, on the heels of a presentation to the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce last week that was also attended by Mayor David Gillan.
At council Monday, Teniuk again voiced his support for the program and said he had big plans for the organization this year, and he repeated his call for more people to join.
