The 100 Mile House RCMP detachment had a public meeting on April 4 in Forest Grove in order to discuss what the department has been dealing with in the past year.
It was reported by Staff Sgt. Svend Nielsen to the 30 people in attendance that the police received 4,978 calls in 2018. It was an increase of 478 calls from 2017.
The calls were handled by the 14 RCMP members.
At the meeting, Nielsen spoke about how crystal meth has been a prevalent drug in the 100 Mile House area since January 2018. The average requirement of money to support an addict’s dependency on the drug is about $40-60 per day. Nielsen said he and the RCMP have gained this knowledge from users who have spoken to the police regarding their addiction.
Cocaine and marijuana are in the 100 Mile area as well.
“We are not waiting for provincial direction from the province in regards to handling misuse of legal grow (marijuana) operations, but rather are experiencing growing pains within the provincial/federal legislation as it develops,” said Nielsen. “We are monitoring the situation locally working with the CRD (Cariboo Regional District) and the District of 100 Mile, who currently still have a moratorium of any retail outlets in the local area.”
There was a significant increase in traffic complaints, pocket dials and animal control calls.
“Break and enters are up 20 over the previous year, not down. The overall number of 75 is indeed low, due to some of the events being placed on one file, the south Canim Lake incident(s) being one example where we did not break down the individuals break and enterings, mostly due to lack of time,” said Nielsen.
According to Nielsen, domestic files have decreased from 27 to 23, but the RCMP has seen a “large jump” in what they call verbal domestics, meaning arguments between couples.
“These went from 37 in 2017 to 62 last year. This was not unexpected as there was information put out after the fires of 2017 that these type of incidents would increase in the second year. I do not have a reference, but it was from a presentation I saw,” said Nielsen.
The budget of the detachment remains a fiscal challenge.
“Certainly, the business of the detachment is not affected by the budget amount, but more to the increase in general file count and staffing levels,” said Nielsen.
