Kimberley RCMP have released their second quarter report for 2018 and Sgt. Chris Newel says that despite a busy summer, numbers are fairly steady.
“Nothing really stands out and numbers are consistent,” he said at a regular Council meeting on Monday.
The Kimberley detachment has one member that is part of the Crime Reduction Unit that serves Cranbrook, Kimberley and the surrounding areas.
“The combined Kimberley/Cranbrook Crime Reduction Unit has been very active and there’s almost always a Kimberley connection,” Newel said. “It’s more about the big picture in the whole area.
“The murder that took place in Cranbrook on Sept. 1; Kimberley was involved. If a similar situation were to happen here we would have the Crime Watch unit involved here as well.”
He adds that several arrests were made for drug possession and supply.
“In July a fairly high level drug target was arrested and charges forwarded to Crown. He allegedly supplied cocaine to dealers in Cranbrook and Kimberley,” he said. “A mid-level dealer was arrested in July, drugs and ammunition were seized. There were links to Kimberley and meth was the drug involved.
“Members were also involved in monitoring and checking a prolific offender who resided in Kimberley. He was compliant with his conditions.
“In July, members [also] targeted a subject involved in property crime and the drug trade. There were direct links to persons in Kimberley.
“As a result of that investigation charges are being recommended on three persons.”
Kimberley RCMP have also been busy with road safety, says Newel.
“We had a really good year for our speed watch program, which is now done for the year,” he explained. “We had requests for the speed watch to be in certain areas, so we tried our best to accommodate those requests.”
Over the five months of the speed watch program, 4,600 vehicles went through.
“The primary goal of speed watch is to increase awareness,” Newel said. “We do not take enforcement action against speeding vehicles, but will follow up with a letter to those going 10 or more kilometres over the posed speed limit. The statistics are also reviewed to determine if further action is warranted, but rarely do we find an issue.”
Officers conducted 357 traffic stops over the three months, higher than the last quarter of 248 and well above the yearly average of 175.
“There were 32 impaired drivers removed from the road, almost as many as all of 2017,” Newel said.
In terms of calls for service, the detachment was called to investigate or attend 560 calls, which is up 15 from the previous quarter, but lower than the same quarter in 2017 (626).
“In 2017 there were quite a few more collisions, assaults, disturbances and animal calls,” said the Sgt.. “Other areas were fairly comparable over the two quarters but a difference of a few calls under each area does add up.”
Finally, the detachment remains short two operational members, however Newel says the resource issue is “reasonable”. One member, who was injured, is working in a non-operational capacity and the other member is on graduated return to work in the office, with a “lengthy recovery” time.