At the Sept. 5, 2017 District of Houston council meeting, Sergeant Jason Burndred of the Houston RCMP detachment presented to council an update on the crime statistics from January to July of 2017.
Sergeant Burndred reported that criminal offenses have decreased by five per cent from 2016.
“We have seen an increase in controlled drugs and substances act and offenses, which is proactive policing targeting drug traffickers in the area,” said Sergeant Burndred.
Sergeant Burndred added that the Houston RCMP has seen an increase of the controlled drugs and substances offenses of 360 per cent.
“Those again are proactive which results in charges within the community,” said Sergeant Burndred.
An increase in property crime, persons, and sex offences was also reported by Sergeant Burndrend. However, he said that crime continues to trend down.
“We can attribute that to the positive relations we have with the community, and the crime reductions strategies that we are implementing within the community,” said Sergeant Burndred.
He also added that this year school year the Houston RCMP will be running the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program for the second year, which will be primarily co-ordinated by Corporeal officer Mark Smail.
“We have four persons interested in the block-watch program,” said Sergeant Burndred. A meeting for the block-watch will be scheduled for later this month he added.
Counsellor Tom Stringfellow asked, “Have you noticed an increase in transit [highway traffic] with the new bus system?”
“I don’t know if there is a direct correlation to the bus system, but there are some new people in town,” replied Sergeant Burndred. “We do have some other out of town persons of interest.”
Houston council thanked Sergeant Burndred for his presentation.
