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Kimberley RCMP first quarter report

Kimberley RCMP had a busy fourth quarter, with over 460 calls for service. In 2017, there was a total of 2064.
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Kimberley RCMP had a busy fourth quarter, with over 460 calls for service. In 2017, there was a total of 2064.

At a Regular Council Meeting on Monday, Feb. 26, Sgt. Chris Newel presented the fourth quarter report to Council.

Sgt. Newel says that resources have been thin for the department recently, especially since one of the members of their Crime Reduction Unit has been on leave since May of last year, after being injured in an incident on the job.

“We struggled with resources for most of the summer. Our staffing levels rose to 80 per cent in late August, unfortunately we suffered another setback in late December and are now at 70 per cent. We hope that will be short term,” said Newel. “We have been stretched quite thin since November. For example, when we have to execute a search warrant, sometimes we have to act quite quickly and we don’t always have the man power to do it, so that has created some issues.”

Newel says that he is hoping to have the two officers who have been on medical leave back in a non-operational capacity soon, and that there has been some positive feedback from staffing about filling one of the positions that is under review.

In terms of the Crime Reduction Unit, Newel says that Kimberley and Cranbrook typically work closely together, which allows both communities to target things successfully.

“Our Cranbrook/Kimberley Crime Reduction team is very active and will be targeting subjects in both Kimberley and Cranbrook,” said Newel. “In the past, the team has focused largely on drug targets, they are expanding their mandate and will be checking on prolific offenders in both communities.”

Newel says that calls for service are down from the previous quarter, which is typically the busiest. There was 626 calls for service in the third quarter, and the previous year’s fourth quarter saw 491 calls for service.

“When you look at that over a three month period - there’s not a lot of fluctuation there,” said Newel. “There’s a 30 call difference in a 90 day period, so that’s not a lot of difference between the last quarter. It is busier depending on the type of calls.”

2017’s largest call volumes were for traffic incidents/suspension (343), abandoned 911 (160), assisting other agencies (123), property (121), alarms (119), and motor vehicle incidents (117).

Councillor Albert Hoglund asked if there has been an increase to thefts from vehicles, to which Newel responded saying that there hasn’t been.

Newel cautions the public about sharing Facebook posts, saying that a recent incident that was blown out of proportion online only saw two calls: one for someone going through car ports, and one for theft.

“Matter of fact, I would say it [vehicle theft] is down,” said Newel. “If you read Facebook, the whole city is in crisis. I caution people about that. Again, we addressed this at the last council meeting, [car theft] tends to happen in unlocked vehicles. They are not breaking windows, they’re not forcing themselves into cars, they are going through unlocked vehicles. My car is locked right now and I lock it in the driveway every night.”

Councillor Darryl Oakley asked about the fact that the report shows calls for suicidal persons have gone up 80 per cent since 2011.

Sgt. Newel says this is due to a change in the relationship between ambulance and police for those types of calls.

“Ambulance calls us for assistance now on every suicidal person. It’s their protocol, which is something they never used to do,” explained Newel.



Corey Bullock

About the Author: Corey Bullock

Corey Bullock is a multimedia journalist and writer who grew up in Burlington, Ontario.
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