LAC LA BICHE - The first-quarter crime statistics of both the Lac La Biche County Enforcement Services Department and the Lac La Biche RCMP detachment were recently discussed by officials from both agencies.
The report shows that RCMP patrolling Lac La Biche County in the first part of 2021 are seeing some significant decreases in certain crime reporting, with break and enters and vehicle thefts both dropping by significant amounts over statistics from the first months of 2020.
Lac La Biche RCMP Staff Sgt. Charles Brown says while it’s good to see those statistics on the decline, there are some increasing trends that are areas of concern. In a report that captures the local detachment’s crime statistics for the first three months of the year, Brown says the region has seen increases in mental health-related incidents, vehicle pursuits, and alcohol-related vehicle suspensions.
Mental wellness
The combination of crime and mental health issues was is also fresh on the minds of regional elected officials, many who recently attended an online webinar hosted by the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association. The risk management, crime prevention and crisis intervention focus presented many insights behind the statistics, says Lac La Biche County councillor Colin Cote.
“A lot of the calls that our police go to are, in fact, medical or social issues,” he said.
Often, he said, first responders spend months of training that focus on enforcement, not on prevention or mitigation, he says.
“It makes you think that we should be thinking about maintenance before crisis,” he said, noting the very specialized training needed to deal with social and mental issues. “Our police have (26 weeks) of training to go out there and enforce. The people that look after mental health issues, they have four or seven years of training.”
Over the past year RCMP and Lac La Biche County’s Community Peace Officers have been dispatched to an increasing number of calls relating to well-being checks and the Mental Health Act (MHA).
In Lac La Biche County the local RCMP detachment has responded to 45 calls in the first three months of the year related to the MHA, and completed 41 well-being checks. Both have been increasing over the last five years, says Brown referring to his office statistics showing both categories have doubled in number since the first quarter statistics from 2017.
Chris Clark, Lac La Biche County’s manager of Enforcement Services says that Level 1 Community Peace Officers can only assist with MHA cases, their authority doesn’t allow them to enforce the Act.
“The Mental Health Act is something that Peace Officers can't actually enforce or deal with, however, we do come across quite a few of our calls that do involve mental components,” says Clark, saying in recent years, his officers have increasingly supported local RCMP on the files.
Decrease in some crime
The RCMP’s first-quarter report found that overall break and enters in the municipality have dropped 49 per cent since the COVID lockdown measures took effect last March.
Brown says with increasing numbers of community members now working from home, the uncertainty of not knowing whether a person is home or not is likely a contributing factor to the decrease in break-ins. There is an element of people working from home and (when restrictions are in place) kids not being in school that pose a deterrent, he said.
Although this year’s numbers show the decline from the 2020 first quarter statistics, those numbers from last year were part of a significant spike across the board in local crime. In the cases of break-ins at businesses, cottages and residences, this year’s early statistics , for the most part, have fallen back in place with where they were in 2019.
Over the five-year reporting period, Brown highlighted an overall decline.
Also staying relatively consistent over the last five years is the theft of cars, vans and SUVs. Brown says the detachment continues to receive about five calls over the span of the first three months of the year in those categories.
Lock your truck
Pickup truck thefts see higher case numbers, he highlighted with an average of 15 reported stolen in the same three month period in each of the last five years. Comparing this year so far to the same months in 2020, Brown said there have been half as many of 20202’s 18 calls so far this year.
According to the RCMP report, approximately 4 stolen vehicles from various locations in Lac La Biche County have been recovered.
Currently, trucks are still the most likely target for theft in the County. No vans have been reported stolen in the region in the first three months of the last five years.
From local municipal statistics collected by Lac La Biche County’s Protective Services department, vehicle-related crime calls have also seen decreases. Local enforcement officials have reported a substantial decrease in speeding violations with similar reduction in Traffic Bylaws such as seat belt violations in the last year, says Clark, crediting an overall reduction of people traveling over the last year.
“We have actually seen a decrease in traffic Bylaw and Traffic Safety Act offences compared to 2020 again because of COVID,” he said, also seeing economic factors playing a role. “Due to the financial uncertainties as well, we just don't have the traffic volume of people moving through the area and going to Fort McMurray or vice versa, on our local highways.”
One area that police are seeing a large increase so far this year, says Brown is with roadside ‘fails’ on breathalyzer tests. In the first three months of 2021, local RCMP had already dealt with 10 alcohol-related roadside suspensions — nine more than were reported last year during the first quarter.
Room for collaboration
With RCMP and Community Peace Officers enforcing Highway Traffic Act and Public Health Orders, as well as other municipal and provincial regulations, the partnership between the two agencies has shown benefits, says Clark, whose own department has seen an overall increase in municipal callouts of about 15 per cent so far this year. That collaboration with local front-line and first-responders is essential, whether statistics are going up or down, he says.
During the first three months of 2021, Lac La Biche County Community Peace Officers responded to 832 calls, which is 100 more than they responded to during the same period in 2020.
Clark says the increase of calls reported to by the municipalities Enforcement Services is related to the calls to assist other emergency services agencies.
“It actually shows our working relationship with her other emergency service agencies ... that again we're increasingly involved in more of files and more of investigations actually have that joint force component... we're attending the same calls and working together on those types of things.”
The next quarterly reports and updated local statistics are expected to be released in July.
With files from Rob McKinley
