Red Deer RCMP say property crime is slowing coming into 2018.
The City of Red Deer released the RCMP’s fourth quarter crime statistics for 2017 Wednesday, showing a significant slowing in the rate of increase for property crimes compared to the last five years.
During the final quarter, property crime numbers were lower than the same time period in 2016.
“We are committed to continuing to slow and stop the increase in property crimes, and believe that the various crime reduction strategies we’re employing are the right course of action.
“The encouraging numbers for the fourth quarter appear to support that belief,” said Supt. Ken Foster.
In December there was no increase in break and enters, and a notable decrease in vehicle thefts compared to December of 2016.
Criminal charges for possession of stolen property rose throughout 2017 as police continue to target career criminals who are responsible for much of the community’s property crime.
“These numbers are indicative of the hard work Red Deer police officers are doing every day through our Pinpoint crime reduction work, through our collaboration with the Priority Crimes Task Force and through special projects like the covert stolen vehicle operation last month and the warrant round-up just before Christmas,” Foster said.
Traffic collisions resulting in injury continue to decrease every year, but there was one traffic fatality in 2017. Collisions involving property damage increased slightly compared to 2016, but are lower than 2013-2015.
Between Oct. 12 and Jan. 10, police conducted 644 checks on targeted people, places and criminal patterns. This includes 23 identified people on parole and probation, and 20 more career criminals with an active history of property crime.
Preliminary analysis for quarter three shows at least 149 charges have been laid specific to targets identified through Pinpoint, the detachment’s crime reduction strategy.
Fifty-six warrants have been executed through daily police work, with 110 being executed in December during a five-day warrant round-up.
Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer said the, RCMP and community agencies are all working to prevent crime.
“We still have substantial work to do specifically with respect to property theft, for example. In Council’s operating budget deliberations, we have approved an additional 10 officers in order to reduce the caseload per officer, allowing us to shift from a reactive to proactive policing model,” said Veer.
Persons crimes in 2017’s final quarter are about the same as they were in 2016; there were fewer robberies, but more sexual assaults.
More information is available at www.reddeer.ca.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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