ESTEVAN — The Estevan Police Service experienced increases in crimes against property and the person in the first month of 2024 when compared to the previous year, while the Controlled Drugs and Substance Act and Criminal Code traffic violations were down.
The EPS received 558 calls for service last month, according to numbers released at the Estevan board of police commissioners' meeting held on Feb. 13. The activity during the first month of the year was comparable to January 2023, when EPS had to deal with 591 calls.
Crimes against person saw the highest increase.
There were 17 such violations in total in January, as opposed to just seven a year earlier, which is a 113 per cent increase. Included in the total this year were 16 assaults and one robbery.
Crimes against property also went up significantly in comparison to last year. In January there were 30 such crimes, up 76 per cent from 17 the previous year. For crimes against property last month, the EPS had 12 thefts under $5,000, 10 mischief/willful damage complaints, five thefts of a motor vehicle, and one each for a residential, business and other break and enter.
Charges under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act were at two, down from 10 that were laid in January of the previous year, which is an 80 per cent decrease. One of last month's charges was for trafficking and one was for possession.
In the first month of the year, the total for the Criminal Code traffic violations came to 12 as opposed to 15 a year earlier, which is a 20 per cent decrease. Included in the total are nine impaired/exceed-related charges, two dangerous driving infractions and other, and one impaired by drug charge.
When compared to the five-year average, January 2024 also saw some increases and drops. Last month, crimes against person were up 73.5 per cent against the 9.8 average; crimes against the person grew by 21 per cent when compared to the 24.8 average; CBSA violations were up 33 per cent from an average of nine; and Criminal Code traffic violations were down 60 per cent from the average of five.
The bylaw enforcement officer report for Special Const. Anna Volmer showed that she had 53 occurrences last month, led by 20 parking violations, 14 unkempt property inspections, nine animal calls, four other bylaw calls and three taxi bylaw calls. In January 2023, she dealt with 122 occurrences.
