INNISFAIL – Local Mounties have released their year-end crime statistics for 2017 and as expected, total property crimes are the highest since at least 2013.
However, total person crimes last year, including homicides, robberies and sexual assaults, are the lowest in that same five-year period, from a high of 173 in 2013 to 127 in 2017.
The five-year crime statistics report was part of town council’s package at its regular meeting on Jan. 22.
The statistics for total property crimes over the five-year period showed a 53 per cent jump from 2016 to last year. The number of break-ins within the Innisfail RCMP’s jurisdiction almost doubled in 2017, from 43 in 2016 to 80 last year. There was a 78.3 per cent increase in stolen vehicles last year, with RCMP responding to 107 cases versus 60 in 2016.
Cases of thefts under $5,000 spiked dramatically. In 2016 Innisfail RCMP responded to 185 complaints but that jumped 35 per cent in 2017 to 250.
And there was a high increase in the number of possession of stolen property cases, which is actually good news as police are almost always catching the criminals at the same time, and the stolen property can be returned to its rightful owners. In 2017, RCMP responded to 117 cases, the highest total in the five-year period, and a whopping 138.8 per cent increase over 2016 when police received 49 reports.
While Mounties have been kept busy battling the property crime wave both in town and the surrounding rural areas, Innisfail RCMP Sgt. Lori Eiler said there has been some "great successes” in the ongoing effort to blunt the problem, which is provincewide. Eiler said while some offenders have received lengthy prison terms for their property crimes, many others have simply stopped and chosen crime-free lifestyles.
As well, the Innisfail RCMP has stepped up its crime prevention initiatives, including the detachment’s Habitual Offender Management program that keeps a sharp eye on prolific offenders in town and the area.
"We are identifying them and become very involved and immersed in making every attempt to see that they are successful, and if they are committing further crimes we are making every effort to ensure they are being held accountable for crimes they are committing,” said Eiler. "It is a situation that we are willing to help people become better at breaking the cycle as a preventable measure. That is a program that has two roads that people have a choice they can take.”
Eiler also gives credit to local and area citizens and community groups, noting they have stepped up with reporting suspicious activity and have become the RCMP’s "eyes and ears.”
"It has a profound impact on our ability to do our work,” she said, noting the committed work of Rural Crime Watch groups in ensuring the RCMP is receiving important messages and tips.
Eiler said two police officers from the detachment are regularly working one on one with rural citizens, with one member also dedicated to working closely with the two existing Rural Crime Watch groups.
"I really think those relationships are instrumental, and on a case-by-case basis we really want to get the message out to make it difficult (for criminals),” said Eiler, adding the detachment is committed to regular CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) presentations. "Locking our doors and locking our home are things people in the rural community traditionally haven’t had to worry about. It is a new day and we are trying to get the message out to rural folks to make it harder (on criminals), right, yes make it harder.”
Innisfail RCMP Sgt. Lori Eiler
"Locking our doors and locking our home are things people in the rural community traditionally haven't had to worry about. It is a new day and we are trying to get the message out to rural folks to make it harder (on criminals), right, yes make it harder."
