ESTEVAN - Estevan Police Service received fewer calls in April in comparison to a year before, and also in the first four months of 2022. However, the total for calls for service remains significantly above the five-year average.
The number of calls for service for Estevan police last month was 488, down from 766 in April 2021. On a year-to-date basis, the EPS has also seen a 28.7 per cent drop in activity, with calls going from 2,808 in 2021 to 2,001 for the first four months of this year.
The five-year average sits at 1,197 calls on a year-to-date basis, which means that so far 2022 has been 67 per cent busier than on average.
Crimes against the person, on a monthly basis, went down in April. There were eight crimes of this kind committed in Estevan in the month, with seven assaults and one assault causing bodily harm. To compare, in April 2021 there were 16 crimes against the person. Yet, due to a sharp increase in this kind of crime earlier this year, to date, there is still a slight increase with a total of 46 crimes against person in 2022, as opposed to 43 in 2021.
The five-year average shows that Estevan has had a much higher number of assaults with 37 so far in 2022, and 11.2 on average in the first four months of the five previous years.
Crimes against property are slightly down on a year-to-date basis, but almost on par when compared to last April. Last month, 18 crimes against property were reported in Estevan, with three residential break and enters, one theft of motor vehicle, four thefts under $5,000 and 10 mischief/willful damage cases. In April 2021, 17 crimes against property were investigated. Up to this point, there were 71 crimes against property committed in Estevan this year, as compared to 73 over the same period last year, which is a three per cent decrease.
Five charges were laid under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in April, with four for trafficking and one for possession, which is exactly on par with April 2021. On a year-to-date basis, 20 charges were laid under the CDSA in 2022, versus 18 up to this time in 2021, which is an 11 per cent increase.
Yet, the five-year average demonstrates that there is a significant change in trafficking statistics with 14 charges laid to date in 2022 and only 1.8 such charges on average. Estevan Police Chief Richard Lowen noted that this fluctuation in statistics occurred because the EPS allocated more resources to fighting trafficking.
There were nine Criminal Code traffic violations in April 2022, all for impaired driving/exceeding-related charges. There were 15 such crimes committed in April 2021. On a year-to-date basis, there were 26 cases reported in this section in 2022, and 36 over the same period of time in 2021, which is a 28 per cent decrease.
The report for bylaw enforcement officer Monica Prentice showed that there were 62 monthly occurrences last month.
The majority of April's activities were parking violations at 13. There were also 11 parking complaints, 11 taxi bylaw-related calls, nine animal calls and a few other calls.
Lowen noted that they still have only one bylaw enforcement officer, and even though in April she was on sick leave and in training for some time, she still kept the work up to speed.
The board also looked through the budget and questioned if it will be enough to cover the growing gas prices. Lowen said that so far, they should be able to remain within the budget, but they probably would need to look at some potential reductions in other expenses to cover the fuel costs.
Board member and City Councillor Shelly Veroba suggested that they reach out to the provincial or federal governments to ask them for help with fuel costs for emergency services.
Board chair and Estevan Mayor Roy Ludwig said that they would look into the matter and would make a request.
