The City of Williams Lake crime rate has declined for a second straight year across the board with two exceptions: break and enters on businesses and residences.
In the RCMP’s report to council Tuesday night, Staff Sgt. Warren Brown said, “We achieved most of the goals we were planning on through our initiatives.”
According to the RCMP statistics, compared to 2009: theft of auto over $5,000 is down 41 per cent; theft of auto under is down 29 per cent; theft of truck over $5,000 is down 33 per cent; theft of truck under is also down 34 per cent; spousal assaults are down 29 per cent; mischief under is down five per cent; robbery is down 36 per cent and false alarms are down three per cent.
Break and enters of residences experienced an increase of 15 per cent; break and enter of businesses increased by 17 per cent. While break and enters are up over 2009, they are down over 2008.
Brown attributes this to the prolific offender program where individuals prone to committing break and enters are kept tabs on.
“Some people refer to that as harassment; I say it’s good policing.”
Calls for service were also down.
Brown further apprised council on the work of CRIME — the Cariboo Region Integrated Marijuana Environment Task Force — that was established in September. In the first four months the force of 20 police officers searched 29 dwellings in the Cariboo; 13 in the Williams Lake area. Sixty thousand plants have been seized and numerous gun charges have been laid.
“People in Williams Lake should feel safe,” Brown said. “When I arrived the number one priority was crime reduction. It’s unfortunate that people had the idea that they weren’t safe.”
Brown noted that Williams Lake is one of the busiest detachments in B.C. and continues to be a challenging place to work.
He also suggested another 20 police officers would be helpful in sharing the workload.
He further gave kudos to community volunteers who help run the detachment’s community policing programs.
“When I first arrived there were 100 volunteers. Now, two years later, there’s 250 volunteers.”
Mayor Kerry Cook congratulated the detachment saying, “It’s exciting to see our reputation changes from crime capital.”
She added that the City of Edmonton has expressed an interest in some of the City’s crime reduction strategies.
