Changes in society are leading people to use violence and weapons to solve their problems, occurrences that the Moose Jaw Police Service is seeing more of this year than last year.
From Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, police responded to 365 incidents of crimes against people compared to 322 offences during the same period in 2022, a year-over-year increase of 13.4 per cent, recent data shows.
Year-to-date (YTD) numbers for crimes against the person for this year versus last year show:
- Homicide: 0 / 1
- Attempted murder: 2 / 1
- Assaults (sexual, common, with weapons/cause bodily harm, aggravated, against police): 260 / 228
- Robbery: 7 / 6
In particular, YTD assaults with a weapon/cause bodily harm increased to 52 compared to 37 last year, a rise of 40.5 per cent, data shows. Meanwhile, YTD assaults against police have increased to 15 compared to five last year, a rise of 200 per cent.
“What we are seeing (are) very similar patterns that we’ve been seeing all year that we are tracking. Crimes against the person have increased (and) we’re watching that and following that,” Chief Rick Bourassa said during the Board of Police Commissioners’ Sept. 28 meeting.
For several years, the agency has flagged for attention — and acquired confirmation from other agencies — the fact there has been an increase in violence and assaults, specifically, more assaults with weapons — from a stone or stick to a machete — that injure people, he continued.
“That is something consistent (and) something I’ve talked about a number of times. It appears to be connected with some social changes and acceptability of certain behaviours,” Bourassa remarked. “And we will continue to watch that.”
Moose Jaw is experiencing similar people-related crimes as Regina, while the agency knows that municipal boundaries cannot contain these “social phenomena” because people are more mobile and travel, he added. The world is regional, so what affects one community likely affects another.
During a media scrum afterward, Bourassa said these attacks are troublesome and harmful and police do what they can to prevent them. However, officers cannot prevent everything because they can’t predict when people will negatively react to a situation.
“One of the things that is consistent … is that most situations of inter-personal violence are within our social networks, (with) people we know,” he continued. “And it is troubling to see that there is an increase in the severity of violence in those interactions now.”
The police will continue to investigate those situations and hold people accountable when possible, the police chief said. One positive note is the MJPS has been successful in doing that and has the highest clearance rate of cases solved in Saskatchewan.
The increase in attacks against police — 15 from five year-over-year — concerned Bourassa, who pointed out that officers are not immune to the changes in society.
“We’ve been noting this for some time, that there is an increase in lack of civility, where violence is being seen as an acceptable means of resolving conflicts,” he said.
Assaults against police usually happen when members are arresting individuals and the alleged offenders lash out with kicking, punching or even spitting. One person may even be responsible for several attacks; there have not been 15 separate incidents.
The MJPS equips its members with equipment to keep them safe, but people’s behaviour is unpredictable, Bourassa said.
This is best showcased in the number of officers killed on duty this year across Canada, he added, which is why national and provincial police organizations have asked Ottawa to stiffen crime-based laws and provide more resources to address areas like addiction.
The next Board of Police Commissioners’ meeting is Thursday, Oct. 19.
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