At the July 30 City of Powell River special council meeting, Powell River RCMP detachment commander staff sergeant Rod Wiebe presented his second quarter policing statistics, outlining trends for policing in the city.
Wiebe told councillors that in the second quarter of 2024, police responded to 1,754 calls for service, which represents an eight per cent increase over the same quarter in 2023. Year-to-date in 2024, police responded to 3,255 calls for service, which is a six per cent increase over the previous year.
“We continue to respond to a log of well-being checks within the city,” said Wiebe. “We are up 17 per cent for this quarter and 26 per cent year-to-date. Mental Health Act calls are actually going down, which is good to see.
“Unspecified assistance, when people don’t know who to call and they call us, is down 23 per cent.”
Wiebe then outlined persons crime, which increased one per cent in the second quarter of 2024 over the previous year. Overall, year-to-date, there is no change, he added.
“It’s a good stat,” said Wiebe. “It kept going up last year, and the first quarter was up a bit as well. Assaults are up 41 per cent, so that’s a concern we will be monitoring.”
Wiebe said extortion is down 50 per cent. He said extortion usually takes place online, where someone is convinced to send pictures and the next thing the person knows, they are being extorted for thousands of dollars.
Sex offences increased, with 10 having been responded to in the second quarter of 2024, compared to seven in 2023, but are down 13 per cent, year-to-date, according to Wiebe. There was a 60 per cent decrease in harassment, and uttering threats was up slightly at three per cent.
He said property crime is one that probably affects residents most in Powell River.
“Property crime was up overall nine per cent this quarter over the same quarter last year and year-to-date it’s up three per cent,” said Wiebe. “It’s led by bike theft. Residential break and enters, probably one of the biggest crimes where people feel violated, is down 83 per cent. However, business break and enters are up 56 per cent, and break and enter – other, like sheds, compounds and the like, is down 83 per cent as well.”
For theft under $5,000, complaints are down 33 per cent. Wiebe said that’s great because it’s the one on social media all the time and “really riles up the public and leads to calls for vigilantism.” Wiebe said shoplifting is up 57 per cent for this quarter, but down two per cent year-to-date.
Theft from vehicles is up, but theft of vehicles remains stable at five for the quarter. Fraud and mischief are both up in the quarter, according to Wiebe.
There was no change in drug offences in the quarter from last year, but year-to-date, it’s down 10 per cent. Trafficking is down from one in the second quarter of 2024, compared to four in 2023. Weapons are down from 10 in 2024 from 11 in 2023.
“Drug trafficking is really proactive on our part, but we are still experiencing some resource shortages – we don’t have a drug section,” said Wiebe. “I expect those numbers to rise when we get positions filled.”
Wiebe said body-worn cameras are scheduled to come onstream in winter or spring 2025. It appears that the price is $3,000 per unit. The cameras will be rolled out to every officer in the detachment. Wiebe said the federal government originally put money aside for this program, but by the time it was rolled out, the money was not there anymore.
“We are hoping they will come to the table and subsidize some of that initial rollout,” said Wiebe.
Regarding union matters, Wiebe said the new two-year collective agreement has been signed off by the federal treasury board and is four per cent per year retroactive to 2023.
“With this wage increase, it puts us 15th in the police universe,” said Wiebe. “Currently, Delta police department is number one at $122,088 for a senior constable.”
The RCMP figure is $115,350, according to Wiebe. He concluded by saying it was gracious for the city to provide new members.
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