Property crime is down and serious crimes are up, according to the latest statistics from the Cochrane RCMP.
“The seriousness of crimes has increased but that is not unique to Cochrane,” explained Lauren Weare, Cochrane RCMP Inspector.
“It is a sign of the times – the severity of the crimes that are committed.”
Looking at the four-year average in crime categories assault and person crimes increased to 340 in 2016 from 312 in 2015; thefts are down from last year; break and enter reports are down to 65 in 2016 from 82 in 2015; incidences of fraud significantly increased to 133 from 87 in 2015; mischief significantly decreased with only 262 reports in 2016 compared to 326 in 2015; disturbing the peace increased slightly and drug enforcement reports increased to 87 in 2016 from 73 reports in 2015.
“Fraud is up which is predominantly credit card and different sorts of scams that are often telephone often linked to overseas or Europe,” Weare explained.
Weare also noted that possession of stolen property was up but said the reports were generally related to traffic stops where the suspect was found in a stolen vehicle or a person was stopped and stolen property was found in the vehicle.
“Often the items are from other jurisdictions,” Weare said.
Notable difference in statistics for the traffic offences were the increase in impaired offences up 20 reports from last year and the decrease in total motor vehicle collisions with 541 reports compared to the 645 reports from last year.
The report noted there are a variety of reasons that contribute to fluctuations in traffic statistics including population increases, weather conditions, road closures and detours, and education and enforcement efforts.
Administrative police activities such as criminal record checks were an area that kept police busiest with 5,141 files.
The most common person crime for 2016 was assault with 174 reports. For property crimes, the two with the highest numbers were theft under $5,000 with 346 reports and mischief with 262 reports.
For other criminal code/federal crimes, disturbing the peace reports led with 257 for 2016 and the majority of traffic reports consisted of 659 moving violations and 541 collisions.
Cochrane’s Citizen on Patrol organization got a shout out in the report for continuing to assist the detachment with neighbourhood patrols.
“The members do an excellent job as do support staff,” Weare said.
