The Battlefords city detachment of the RCMP saw some improvement in the month of August in the crime statistics.
Break and enters, property crimes and criminal code offences were all down for the month compared to the previous year, although person offences and drug offences did show a slight increase.
In August, property offences were down to 232 compared to 304 in August 2009; break and enters to businesses down to one from six; break and enters to residences down to 27 from 43; criminal code offences down to 178 from 200, and liquor act offences down from 51 to 41.
Person offences were up, though, to 75 from 67.
Provincial traffic offences were up to 174 from 149, and motor vehicle collisions were even compared to a year ago. Impaired driving offences were up to 29 from 22.
For the year ,so far, Battlefords Detachment is still seeing increases in a number of categories, though by smaller margins than had been seen in previous months in several categories.
Person offences are up 40 per cent for the year, break and enters to business up 96 per cent, break and enters to residences down 22 per cent, property offences up five per cent, criminal code offences up four per cent and drug offences up 50 per cent for the year so far.
Calls for service in August were at 1,406, down from 1,469 in August 2009. For the year to date Battlefords RCMP have had 10,125 calls for service, up from 10,005 the previous year.
The numbers in the report were submitted by Staff Sgt. Phil Wilson to the municipal services committee of North Battleford council Monday.
Wilson also reported the RCMP logged 15 foot patrols during August in the downtown core areas, along with numerous vehicle and bike patrols to ensure a visible presence. As well, members were busy doing foot patrols to maintain a presence on the fair grounds during Territorial Days.
The detachment also created an operational plan to deal with security, traffic and other concerns at BridgeFest, which resulted in two members being brought in on overtime. Members also created a presence by doing foot patrols during the evening and traffic control as necessary. Four RCMP members were on the ground at all times with an additional eight taking part in closing ceremonies.
The greater visibility of the RCMP engaging in street patrols pleased Councillor Ron Crush, who had pushed for more patrols at previous meetings.
"That demonstrates in my mind the preventative side of things," said Crush, who said he saw "presence" and "patrols" from the RCMP in August.
"I think that's critical for us to get our statistics turned around and going the other way."
