BARRHEAD - Barrhead Cpl. Filipe Vicente had mixed news for County of Barrhead councillors during their Feb. 6 meeting.
On the plus side, in the final quarter of 2023, encompassing the months of October, November and December, persons crimes decreased over the same period in 2022, dropping by three calls to 45.
Leading the way in persons crimes (crimes committed directly against individuals) was assault at 18, followed by criminal harassment, uttering threats and sexual offences at 12, 7 and 6. At the bottom of the list were kidnapping, extortion and criminal harassment at one complaint each.
Unfortunately, Vicente could not say the same on the property crime side, which saw an increase of 37 per cent over the fourth quarter (Q4) compared to 2022, jumping to 115 files from 84.
On the bright side, the number is still considerably down from Q4 totals in 2019, 2020, and 2021 at 149, 153, and 150, respectively.
Leading the way for property in Q4 were theft under $5,000, fraud, mischief (damage to property), motor vehicle theft and break-and-enters at 38, 20, 17, 11, and 10, respectively.
Rounding off the bottom property crime categories for Q4 statistics are theft over $5,000, possession of stolen goods, arson and mischief (other) at 7, 5, 5 and 2.
However, Vicente noted that the detachment's overall number of complaints in 2023 has remained relatively constant.
He said last year, the detachment responded to 100 more complaints over the previous year, 36 of those were in the County of Barrhead.
Vicente said some of the increases in the quarter are to be expected, explicitly referring to the rise in vehicle thefts that happen over the winter months, adding the detachment took part in the RCMP's cold start program to remind drivers about the risks of leaving keys in their vehicles.
"There was also a big spike in the [thefts over $5,000]; most of those were in the county in the Tiger Lily area, with the [oil and gas sites] being hit," he said. "And every time they do that is [at least a $40,000 to $50,000 hit]."
Vicente said some of the rise in the property offences stats for the quarter could be attributed to a three-to-week crime spree in Camp Creek.
"We had a lot of reports of theft of fuel, break-and-enters into sheds and quonsets," he said, adding the spree ended with the arrest of a suspect who was charged for the break-and-enter of a seasonal cabin.
Vicente added that the detachment saw over the quarter and is still experiencing a large uptick in fraud complaints.
The 2023 Q4 fraud stats, compared to those in 2022, saw a 150 per cent increase.
"[It runs the whole gamut] from the [Canadian Revenue Agency] asking people to send Apple gift cards to dating scams, it is like wildfire," he said. "We get those types of complaints almost daily."
The other category that Vicente identified was arson, with five complaints compared to two or three from the same period from 2019 to 2022.
Two of the files were the Dec. 7 historic church fires of St. Aidan's Church in Glenreagh and the St. Mary Abbots Anglican, better known as the Pioneer Memorial Church, near Thunder Lake, while the other three were vehicle fires.
Vicente said that although the police have not commented publicly recently on the church fires, he assured councillors that the files were still open and are actively being investigated.
He added that the RCMP sent a forensic investigative team that included a specialized arson dog unit, which identified that an accelerant had been used to start both church fires.
"We are still waiting on some lab results and are working in the background with other detachments that have experienced similar church fires to see if there are any links and see if we can make something happen," Vicente said. "They certainly haven't been forgotten."
Reeve Doug Drozd asked if the weather had any impact on the statistics.
Vicente replied definitely, saying during the extended cold snap about three weeks ago, the number of complaints was practically non-existent.
On the other hand, sometimes, he said, weather can be a catalyst to crime, adding criminals are opportunists, and if a road or driveway doesn't have any tracks in the snow after a couple of weeks, it also presents a potential target.
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