The rate of property crime in the town of Olds is the lowest it's been since 2014, Staff Sgt. Jim MacDonald says.
The rate of property crime in the town of Olds is the lowest it's been since 2014, Staff Sgt. Jim MacDonald says.
At that time, he said reported property crime in Olds from October through December was down 76 per cent. Also, persons crimes — including assaults, sexual assaults and threats — were down 46 per cent compared to the same period in 2017.
MacDonald said during the last quarter of 2018, 111 property crime incidents were reported to Olds RCMP, down from 249 incidents during the same period in 2017.
During that same time period, police received 25 reports of persons crimes, compared to 40 from October through December of 2017.
MacDonald was asked why the crime rate had fallen so dramatically.
He said several factors contributed to that drop.
"Several Olds-area prolific offenders were arrested and incarcerated in 2018 and that certainly affects crime levels in areas around where they live," MacDonald said.
In addition, crime reduction strategies such as creating dedicated crime reduction units and hiring crime analysts have also helped.
MacDonald said support from local residents has also played a strong role.
"Citizens on Patrol has been quite active. In addition to their patrols, they have been very visible with participation at events such as Midnight Madness, the Holiday Train and the RCMP Help End Auto Theft initiative.
"I think people are becoming more self aware and are taking measures to improve the security of their property by locking doors, getting security systems and being more mindful of unusual activity in their neighbourhoods."
Reported persons crimes for the entire year fell by only five per cent; 129 incidents compared to 136 incidents in 2017.
That drop may seem small, but MacDonald says there's good reason for that.
"Olds has a relatively low rate of violent and persons crimes and the overall numbers of those incidents every year have changed very little in the past five years," he said.
"Unlike property crime, which is often committed by transient criminals living outside the Olds area, most persons crimes are committed by local residents. Several of these incidents are related to domestic disputes."
Outside the Olds town boundaries the crime rate was slashed by 29 per cent, compared to 2017.
MacDonald attributes that result to help from Rural Crime Watch.
"In fact, several of our arrests related to property crime were as a result of rural residents keeping a watchful eye and reporting suspicious activity," he said.
MacDonald warned that big swings in rural crime numbers can be misleading, because the population is relatively small.
In 2018, reported rural persons crimes rose 19 per cent from 2017, climbing to 53 incidents in 2018 compared to 44 in all of 2017.
Reported rural property crime in 2018 fell by 29 per cent compared to 2017; 376 incidents in 2018 versus 502 in 2017.
"In this case, rural persons crimes numbers were already low so an increase of only nine reported incidents equals a 19 per cent increase," MacDonald said.
"Those numbers are still very close to the average over the last five years which amounts to about only one person crime reported per week."
