Powell River saw a drop in property-related crime, but increases in traffic and violent offences last year, stated the commander for Powell River’s RCMP detachment in a recent presentation to local government.
Staff sergeant Rod Wiebe provided a snapshot of his detachment’s activities during 2015 to directors of Powell River Regional District (PRRD) committee of the whole Thursday, February 18.
“It’s certainly a very safe community and provincial area. I’m very happy about that,” stated Wiebe during the presentation. “When we’re not responding to calls, we do want to work on issues in your areas.”
Property crime was down eight per cent during 2015, break and enters were down 32 per cent and theft under $5,000 was down 25 per cent, according to the report. Shoplifting, however, saw an increase with an increase of nine per cent.
Violent crime was up approximately four per cent, stated Wiebe. That rate, he explained, is in line with the provincial average.
Traffic-related offences were up 20 per cent over 2014. Wiebe attributed some of the increase to a bump in impaired-driving charges laid against repeat offenders. These drivers, explained Wiebe, had already gone through the province’s immediate roadside-prohibition program, which does not carry a criminal charge, when they were again caught impaired behind the wheel.
Vehicle collisions were down 13 per cent last year, he stated. Wiebe's detachment has been working over the past four years to reduce that number, but only this past year did they see it dip, he added.
“We’re very happy with that number,” he stated.
The local detachment received 5,760 calls for service last year, down from 5,783 in 2014, but up from 5,739 in 2013. Of last year’s calls, spanning from Saltery Bay to Lund, 786 came from the rural areas, excluding Texada Island, 570 came from south of town, and 338 from Texada, down from 404 in 2014.
“You can certainly see that the calls follow where most of the population density is,” stated Wiebe.
Powell River's RCMP detachment is funded by the province for seven members to patrol the electoral areas, two of which are stationed on Texada, and by City of Powell River, which currently funds 18 positions to service the municipality. The detachment has one officer that works in Tla’amin Nation. The detachment will add an additional member to its municipal group in the coming year.
“Overall, last year our priorities were road safety, crime reduction, youth and a Tla’amin component,” stated Wiebe. “We focussed on domestic violence and enhanced rural policing.”
Wiebe told the directors he is looking at establishing a satellite detachment on Savary Island to improve future police presence on the northern gulf island.
Patrick Brabazon, PRRD board chair and Electoral Area A director, said the electoral areas and municipality are served well by the local detachment.
“There are no complaints from the rural areas, in terms of policing,” he said. “Our relationship, in my time [on the board], with the police has been excellent,” he added. As an example, Brabazon pointed to the police efforts during the past four years to improve public safety during the summer long weekends on Savary Island where there used to be non-stop beach parties.
Those efforts were sustained through a partnership between the RCMP, PRRD and Savary Island Volunteer Fire Department.
