The Elk Valley RCMP released their 2015/16 Final Quartely Report, detailing the quantitative and qualitative data collected over this year and compared them to last quarter’s results.
The RCMP categorized traffic into seven categories that all saw an increase in tickets. The ticket target for Highway 3 was surpassed, reaching 70 tickets by the end of the fiscal year, seeing nine tickets over the quarter. While the Lower Elk Valley Road had fewer charges, there was an increase in police patrols. The RCMP concluded that this area is seeing less speeders. The Elko projections were not met, while the charge/warning target was set at 20 tickets, the RCMP believe the town site enforcement was adequate. The Safe Roads section also saw two measures that were not implemented in the other quarters, a speed board was deployed in Fernie, and Sgt. Will Thien delivered a School Bus Safety package to SD5 drivers. All other targets within the category were surpassed.
Another section in the report was Reduce Property Crime, which had four categories. There was a 33 per cent reduction in reported mischief offences over the year. Their liquor enforcement target of 34 was also exceeded and saw 36 charges, a 12 per cent increase.
Object 3, Reduce Impact of Organized Crime, saw the drug trafficker charge target exceeded, increasing by four infractions over the quarter to finish at five charges one more than the target. The police noted that they will continue to work on obtaining search warrants on marijuana grow operations in aims to eradicate them and continue the work they did this year.
The RCMP also continued relations with it’s partners, meeting its ICAT trained members and the RCMP’s collaborative partnership with mental health groups to create a one page sheet that contains mental health help and contact numbers for officers to give to those who they come into contact with that are not committable to mental health care. There were 10 visits to schools within the Elk Valley by school liaison officers, meeting their target.
Staff Sergeant, Lorne Craig said that he is satisfied with the result of the Annual Performance Plan this year.
“In, particular, the reduction in property crime in the down town core area of Fernie was a great success. Breach Charges on our prolific offenders were almost double what was expected,” he said, and went on to talk about the positive steps to crime reduction and the amount of school visits. “The vast majority of goals were met or exceeded. Considering that staffing levels were low this past year, the members did a great job.”