Crime is decreasing in the Boundary area for the third straight year, according to the annual police report.At the committee of the whole meeting on Feb. 11, council heard the annual report from the Boundary Region RCMP detachment delivered by Staff Sgt. Jim Harrison, and it was a good one.Overall, criminal offences were down 23 per cent from 2012 to 2013.“In 2013, there were again significant decreases in the occurrence of crime throughout the Boundary area,” Harrison said in the report.He stated that there has been a trend across the country and the province for dropping crime rates, “however, the Boundary has exceeded national and provincial average reductions in crime by a significant amount.”That isn’t by accident, Harrison asserted. In 2010, the Boundary Regional RCMP saw the implementation of several strategies for crime reduction. “Over the past three years the results of initiating and practicing these strategies has become apparent,” he said in the report. The report stated that property crime has been reduced by 31.2 per cent in 2013.However, crimes against person (violent crimes or threats of violence or harassment) were up 11.76 per cent. Although common assaults and uttering threats were the incidents that increased most notably, other criminal code offences were down 17.6 per cent.“With the reductions that were realized in 2011 of 19 per cent, 11 per cent in 2012, and a further reduction in 2013 of 23 per cent, we have now seen crime reduced by 48 per cent since 2010,” said Harrison. Boundary police will continue with their crime reduction, crime prevention and community policing activities in 2014, he said.“In 2013, we concentrated enforcement on breach of probation, conditional sentence orders and bail orders,” said Harrison. “This approach was directed towards known criminal offenders to ensure compliance with their court orders.”

Grand Forks Gazette