Local police hope that recent crime stats, in particular ones relating to vehicles, stay in the rearview.
Looking back on callouts in October, Lac La Biche RCMP say there was a significant uptick in vehicle thefts and possession of stolen property cases.
"We saw 18 theft of motor vehicle files and 27 possession of stolen propery cases — just in October," says Lac La Biche RCMP Corp. Trevor Cardinal.
Other statistics from the month relating to police calls saw 56 collision reports — a relatively high number attributed to the arrival of cold-weather driving hazards, and eight calls for people disturbing the peace — a significant reduction from recent months that is also attributed to the cooler temperatures, but this time, reducing the amount of outdoor criminal activity.
Not 911
One area that continues to see higher-than-wanted statistics is false 911 calls. Whether they are inadvertent 'pocket dials', miss-dialed keypad errors, children or simple prank attempts, Cardinal said the detachment acted on 21 emergency calls through the 911 system that were found to be false.
"The calls might be false, but they all take some form of followup, and that can take members away from other duties and tasks," he said.
In total, the 12 permanent RCMP members assigned to the Lac La Biche detachment responded to 608 calls through October.
"It works out to about 20 calls a day," said Cardinal of the busy office.
November start
With the first week of November in the books, some of the trends are continuing. Cardinal says there were 135 calls for service to the local detachment from November 1-8. Those calls include 10 false calls to 911, along with 12 collision reports, three calls for items stolen from vehicles and 12 calls to investigate suspicious people or vehicles on private property, three people reported missing, six break and enter complaints at businesses and four break and enters to residences. There have been many other calls as well, with Cardinal highlighting highlighted crime categories.
Community input welcome
It is a busy area for policing, he says, but adds that the local officers are encouraged by the continuing increase of public engagement.
"We do get a lot of calls ... for suspicious people or vehicles ... from the public and it's good to see that people are getting involved. We are busy here, but it's really great to get more people calling us. It's encouraging that the community wants to get involved," Cardinal said.
Some of those tips and calls can lead to arrests or the recovery of stolen property or wanted criminals.
On November 6, a man wanted in connection to charges he's facing relating to an alleged vehicle 'chop shop' operation on the Beaver Lake Cree Nation was caught again by police in St. Paul. The man was wanted on outstanding warrants after he failed to appear in court on Oct. 29 in relation to his October 16 arrest during a police takedown of a property associated with a stash of reportedly stolen vehicles. The man was initially facing charges of breaking and entering, possession of break in tools, possession of property obtained by crime, mischief over $5,00, and disguised with intent to commit an offence. At that time he was released from custody with conditions to attend the Oct. 29 court date.
When he was arrested on Nov. 19, he was allegedly in the possession of a truck believed to have been stolen from the Lac La Biche area.
Hank Gladue has been released from custody on $3,000 no cash bail and ordered to be in Lac La Biche Provincial Court on Nov. 19.
