Kimberley RCMP have released their third quarter report for October to December of 2019, and Sgt. Chris Newel says that numbers indicate no significant rise in crime in Kimberley.
At a regular Council meeting on Monday, Sgt. Newel presented the findings to Council.
He first touched on a few things that have happened more recently, before getting into the specifics about the last three months of 2019.
First off, the RCMP office in Kimberley will be seeing some upgrades, including the recent delivery of a new truck that the detachment has been waiting two years to receive. Newel says they are happy with the purchase, and it won’t cost any extra money seeing as the truck is included in the existing budget.
The detachment will also see some upgrades to landscaping, including grass and irrigation, and Newel says there is potential for a new sign to be installed as well.
The current sign was installed in the 70’s, so the detachment is hopeful that their application for funds for a new sign will be approved by the federal government.
Newel explained that the southeast district is looking into the possibility of hiring on a full-time compliment for emergency services.
“After the recent incident in Wasa, that was a very expensive day having called in members from the Okanagan. The southeast district is part-time, but last year they had 75 calls for service so they are looking at making them full-time so those types of calls can be dealt with more easily,” Newel explained.
READ MORE: Incident in Wasa resolved peacefully, say Kimberley RCMP
In terms of the third quarter report, overall the Kimberley detachment was called to investigate 382 calls for service, down 37 per cent from the previous quarter which saw 610. During the same quarter in 2018, there were 452 calls for service.
“During the last quarter [of 2019] we saw the lowest calls for service since I’ve been here. There’s no real reason for that, but it shows that crime is certainly not rising,” said Newel.
From October to December, Kimberley RCMP had 74 traffic contacts. 16 impaired drivers were removed from the road and 16 road checks were conducted.
“There was no significant rise in the number of impaired drivers during the festive season,” Newel wrote in his report. “Neither have we noticed an increase in drivers impaired by cannabis.”
Foot patrols continued in the end of 2019, with the majority taking place in and around the Platzl.
“This is down from the almost once a day we did in 2018. This [could] be a result of several reasons, including some high priority or complex investigations,” Newel said, adding that 46 patrols were made to Wasa from October to December.
The Cranbrook/Kimberley crime reduction unit had a busy end of the year.
“The Cranbrook/Kimberley crime reduction unit is never short of work. Although they work out of the Cranbrook detachment, they target offenders in both communities,” Newel wrote. “They usually have multiple investigations going on at any one time. Because of the close proximity subjects involved have connections to Kimberley.”
Newel adds that in October, a subject was arrested who was trafficking cocaine and crystal meth, along with holding a large quantity of cash.
“The subject came from the lower mainland, has ties to organized crime and was dealing in both Kimberley and Cranbrook,” Newel said. “In November, a subject who had been involved in the drug trade in both Cranbrook and Kimberley was arrested. He too had connections to organized crime in the lower mainland. Seized was fentanyl and cocaine.”
READ MORE: Kimberley RCMP arrest man, numerous charges laid
corey.bullock@kimberleybulletin.com
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