Property crime in Penhold and throughout the region took a sharp decline in January, encouraging news for area communities that have been battling rising rural crime for the past two years.
Innisfail Staff Sgt. Chris Matechuk said recent crime statistics show total property crime in his detachment's jurisdiction, which includes Penhold, has decreased 82.5 per cent in January of this year compared to the same month of 2015.
“The significant decreases were in Penhold,” said Matechuk. “In the area, mischief to property was down 33 per cent and break and enters were down 66 per cent. All areas of property crimes saw significant reductions in Penhold.”
He said his detachment also received 100 less calls for service in the entire detachment area than it did a year earlier.
“That's only one month. It's a small snapshot,” he said, adding while it's too early to tell whether police have put a dent in rising rural crime, the latest year-to-year stats for January are “encouraging.
“It is encouraging but we've got to look at crime trending. It is the start of the year and hopefully it continues. Time will tell,” said Matechuk.
The latest RCMP crime statistics were released as a Penhold senior citizen, a retired 30-year veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force, was victimized by a brazen break and enter sometime during the evening of Feb. 25 or in the early hours of Feb. 26.
George Slauenwhite, 78, owner of G & E Woodworking, said after he woke up at 7 a.m. on Feb. 26 he noted his overhead garage door was open. He said he did not immediately notice anything missing and closed the door. However, later in the morning he realized something was wrong when he was looking for his electric drill for a project.
“I could not find it anywhere. Then I noticed an air compressor was missing, and then I knew what happened with the open door. Somebody had a key or something to open the door,” said Slauenwhite.
After calling Innisfail RCMP, he soon discovered he was missing about $1,000 to $1,500 worth of tools, including a brand new staple driver, Dewalt air compressor and a Milwaukee drill set. RCMP continue to investigate.
“If you go back 15 or 20 years it (crime) would have been a surprise, but in today's economy with the way things are, there is an increase in crime with things like this that are happening,” said Slauenwhite.
In the meantime, the RCMP's regional Priority Crimes Task Force, which was formed 14 months ago from the area's detachments to combat rural crime, is continuing with success, which has included recent major takedowns of organized criminal operations in Red Deer, Penhold, Sylvan Lake and Blackfalds. However, Matechuk said it's still too early to fully and accurately measure that success, despite the encouraging January crime statistics.
“There is not hundreds and hundreds of people out there committing crimes. It is small groups, and in Central Alberta if we do get these small groups in custody, slow them down, then most definitely we will see some significant decreases in crime for a short period of time, and hopefully it will continue,” said Matechuk. “It's good news. How much we can comment on will depend on the next months coming up.”
Innisfail RCMP Staff Sgt. Chris Matechuk
"It is encouraging but we've got to look at crime trending. It is the start of the year and hopefully it continues. Time will tell."
