Despite calls for service trending upwards, the number of criminal code offences continue to trend down, according to Rimbey’s top cop.
RCMP Sgt. Pierre St-Cyr, the Rimbey detachment commander, presented to Eckville town council during their Jan. 10, 2022, meeting.
In his report, he indicated that between January and September 2021, the detachment responded to 65 break and enter complaints, 55 thefts of motor vehicle complaints, 116 theft over and under $5,000 and 49 cases of possession of stolen property complaints.
When compared to 2020 numbers, the only category of complaints to see an increase was theft of motor vehicles, which had a 20 per cent increase.
The other categories all showed a decrease in complaints ranging from eight to 31 per cent.
St-Cyr indicated in his presentation that some of the increased calls for service could be attributed to the affects of the COVID-19 pandemic, its affects on people’s mental health and well being, violence as a result of people being in isolation due to restrictions, and a variety of other factors.
During the presentation, he also updated council on detachment staffing levels; currently the detachment is fully staffed with RCMP members, however the support staffing situation is “critical,” going from three support staff down to one.He noted that the hiring/interview process is ongoing to fill the positions.
St-Cyr also updated council on current detachment renovations. The detachment had its holding cells decommissioned in 2010, and the space is currently being renovated to convert it into filing and storage rooms.The bull pen, where the members have their work stations, is also being expanded from two work-stations to four and the current file room is being converted into a boardroom.
Finally, St-Cyr updated council on the new RCMP mobile phone app which was released on Jan. 7, 2022.
With the app, users can report non-urgent crimes, access RCMP detachment contact information, have a direct link to Crime Stoppers, find access to crime mapping, statistics, and general news releases from the RCMP. The app can be found by searching RCMP in both the Google and Apple mobile app stores.