Crime Quieter than expected in the MD

S/Sgt Luis Gandolfi reviews MD crime stats for year to date

Council for the Municipal District (MD) of Bonnyville welcomed Bonnyville RCMP S/Sgt Luis Gandolfi to their regular Council Meeting on Wednesday, September 14th. S/Sgt Gandolfi reviewed the MD crime stats for January through August with Council and Reeve Ed Rondeau.

“Generally speaking, we went through a bit of a downturn during the summer. It was quieter than expected.” Using data from the last eight months against previous years data pulled from the same time period, S/Sgt Gandolfi was able to give Council an idea of what’s going on in the MD, crime-wise.  Years studied included 2013 to present, January through August.

“Persons crime appears to be up, with is sort of not consistent with what is happening in other part of our patrol area.” Persons crime includes crimes that are committed on another person. These include, assault, sexual assault, criminal harassment, extortion, kidnapping, and uttering threats. “I can tell you, the Town of Bonnyville, has experienced a decrease in persons crime and an increase in property crime. It looks like the opposite, to an extent, is happening in the MD.” S/Sgt Gandolfi  last year persons crime accounted for 72 files, whereas this year that number was up to 96 files.

“We have a decrease in property crime from 339 (files) to 280 (files),” S/Sgt. Gandolfi presented stats that shows the amount of property crime in 2013 and 2014 were also lower than those of this year. “Some of our smaller communities have been seeing a little bit of action. We’ve been seeing some [property crime] in Therien and Goodridge. We’ll have to monitor it and see what’s happening.”

“We always get questions about drugs in the community. That’s really a measure of how healthy the community is.” as S/Sgt. Gandolfi explains, stats can be deceiving, “if you have lower stats does it mean there’s fewer drugs or does it mean we’re not catching as many bad guys. Conversely, when the stats are high, are we doing a better job at catching them? You have to ask yourself those questions.” Drug possession was down from previous years, with only two cases since January, “that actually seems low to me,” states S/Sgt Gandolfi. Total drug files for the MD of Bonnyville are five.

Along with the crime stats, S/Sgt Gandolfi spoke to Council about turnover at the detachment over the summer. “We were in training mode, we had a lot of new personnel come in,” since being assigned to the Bonnyville Detachment, S/Sgt Gandolfi says there has been five members that have moved on to different posts. “Generally, we get cadets. That being said, it’s a good situation for us,” as S/Sgt Gandolfi explains having cadets allows the Detachment to better train the candidate for the community and its needs. “It’s nice to have an open book and teach our new members how we like it in Bonnyville.

The Bonnyville Detachment has four cadets with under six months service, three of which has less than two months service. The cadets replace four members of the Detachment, one of whom hasn’t left yet.