ESTEVAN - One of the two incoming city council members for the Estevan board of police commissioners was sworn in at Wednesday’s meeting.
Councillor Rebecca Foord took the oath of office at the start of the meeting. The other incoming member, Councillor Tony Sernick, was unable to attend and will be sworn in at a future meeting.
They will begin serving on the police board in January 2023.
As part of a change for the police board announced last year, the councillor representatives will serve two-year terms. Councillors Shelly Veroba and Lindsay Clark, who joined in January 2021, are coming to the end of their time on the board.
The members at large, Bernadette Wright and Roberta DeRosier, had two year terms that started on Jan. 1, 2022. With the new format, it means councillor terms and member-at-large terms won’t end at the same time.
Mayor Roy Ludwig is automatically part of the police board.
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The Estevan Police Service received 590 calls for service last month, according to numbers released at the meeting, down from the 623 calls that came in during October 2021. In the first 10 months of this year, the EPS has received 5,590 calls for service, a 31.2 per cent decline from the 8,127 calls from Jan. 1-Oct. 31, 2021.
Calls for service this year are also down 19.2 per cent from the five-year average of 6,917.
The total number of Criminal Code charges is at 533 for the year, up 31 from last year. The EPS had 126 crimes against the person in the first 10 months of this year, a 19 per cent increase from the 106 they had for the same time period a year ago.
Crimes against property are at 293, up 14 per cent from 258 the previous year. Charges under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act are at 25, down 11 per cent from 28 the previous year. And Criminal Code traffic violations are at 91, down 19 per cent from 112 last year.
Last month, the EPS responded to 12 crimes against the person, with 10 assaults and two assaults causing bodily harm. Police Chief Rich Lowen noted the number of assaults was up from three in October 2021, but there doesn’t appear to be a connection between this year’s assault complaints.
In the first 10 months of this year, out of the 126 crimes against the person, there were 97 assaults, 20 sexual crimes, eight assaults causing bodily harm and one robbery.
For crimes against property in October, the EPS had 26, with seven for residential break and enters, two business break and enters, two thefts of a motor vehicle, seven thefts under $5,000 and eight mischief/willful damage complaints.
So far this year, out of the 293 crimes against property, 134 were for theft under $5,000, 108 were for mischief or willful damage, 25 were for residential break and enters, six were business break-ins, three were other break-ins, 13 were thefts of vehicles and four were thefts over $5,000.
There were no charges last month under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, compared to just one in October 2021. So far this year, there have been 17 trafficking charges and eight for possession.
Fifteen Criminal Code traffic violations were laid, the same as last year. Twelve charges were for impaired/exceed-related offences and three were for impairment by drug.
The first 10 months of the year generated 71 charges for impaired/exceed-related offences, 13 for impairment by drug and seven for dangerous driving and other.
DeRosier asked about the reduction in the number of impaired driving charges. Lowen said he believes it’s due to enforcement and public engagement sessions that have happened. He noted the EPS is entering the “celebration season”, so officers will ramp up enforcement in the coming weeks.
The bylaw enforcement officer report for Special Const. Anna Volmer showed that she had 117 occurrences last month, led by 38 unkempt property violations, 20 animal calls, 12 taxi bylaw calls and 18 under other bylaw.
So far this year, among the 1,205 calls for bylaw, the bulk of the occurrences have been 578 for unkempt property inspections, 205 for parking violations, 130 for animal calls, 76 for other bylaw, 61 for taxi inspections and 58 for parking complaints.
Clark asked about snow clearing from business that are now closed. He wanted to know if snow clearing is enforced. Lowen said the challenge is with ownership and trying to find the people who are responsible.
Volmer will be delivering letters to the offending properties, and there will be messages on snow removal in the city page and on social media.
