Crime statistics throughout the qathet Regional District (qRD) area, which includes City of Powell River, trended downward in 2020.
RCMP staff sergeant Rod Wiebe, in presenting the 2020 policing report at the March 11 qRD committee of the whole meeting, outlined the crime severity index (CSI). He said when he reported to the regional directors last year, he was trying to explain why the CSI went up so high so quickly. Wiebe said in 2019, there were increases, but things have started to normalize.
Break and enters were down 32 per cent, theft under $5,000 was down 36 per cent, impaired driving dropped five per cent, drug offences were down 61 per cent and mental health complaints were down 11 per cent. Overall, in the entire region, property crime was down 25 per cent.
“It’s a very good follow-up to a year, 2019, which was unexplainable, with high crime,” said Wiebe. “We are starting to trend back to where Powell River should be and used to be.”
Wiebe then outlined drug trafficking statistics. He said it is prevalent and the devastation it leaves behind is incredible.
The local detachment takes part in the provincial tactical enforcement priority program, said Wiebe. The provincial government provides money to identify targets that are prolific offenders who are highly entrenched in drug trafficking. Wiebe said without that, the detachment couldn’t do half the work it does.
“With that we executed 20 search warrants,” said Wiebe. “Our seizures included cocaine, meth, fentanyl and cannabis. We seized multiple vehicles and a tonne of property. We have luxury residences and storage facilities that are subject to forfeiture procedures right now. We are hitting the criminals where it hurts.”
Wiebe said there were 19 charges recommended for prosecution.
“Overall, we’ve been extremely successful,” said Wiebe. “We have the second highest arrest and charge rate in the Island district. We are quite happy with the success we’ve had with this program.”
In terms of calls for service, calls are down from 2019, where there were 6,501 calls and it was “an incredible year, call-wise.” In 2020 calls were down six per cent and were starting to normalize, with 6,079 calls. Calls so far for 2021 are on par with 2020, said Wiebe, and hopefully, it will trend downward to historic levels.
In terms of the rural areas, there were a total of 1,539 calls in 2020, which is up seven per cent over the previous year.
Wiebe said the detachment started a general duty staffing assessment a couple of years ago to determine where time was spent. He said for the last couple of years, the detachment has been at 18 and 19 per cent proactive time, which is time members have to do some proactive activity such as patrols and crime prevention programs.
“That works out to be 10 minutes every hour, so it’s not a lot of proactive time, so we’re hoping we can change that around in the coming year,” said Wiebe.
Courts drain resources
In terms of COVID-19, there were pressures put on by other agencies that couldn’t be predicted, said Wiebe. Court services have been a big drain on resources and continues to be a drain, he said, because of a curtailment of activity in courthouses. Wiebe said police ended up carrying out activities at the detachment that would typically be taken care of at court facilities.
Wiebe said on paper, the Powell River RCMP detachment has a number of staffing resources, but it hardly ever reaches that, which is taxing for the detachment’s members. He said for provincially funded positions, the detachment averaged six full-time equivalent positions, out of eight positions that are funded. Wiebe said the shortfall was due to injuries and transfers, et cetera. On the city side, the detachment is funded for 20 positions and there were 17 billed full-time equivalent positions.
“There are certainly pressures put on all of our members to try and fill in those gaps,” said Wiebe. “Those gaps are normally filled with overtime, which is an added burden to the provincial budget line and the municipal budget line.”
Priorities for the coming year include road safety, crime reduction, youth, domestic violence, employee wellness, working with Tla’amin Nation and enhanced visibility on Savary Island.
Committee chair Sandy McCormick said one feature she found interesting was that numbers were actually down in 2020 over 2019 in a lot of areas.
“Given that it’s a COVID-19 year with the pressure and emotion,” said McCormick, “it’s interesting to see.”
