The City of Moose Jaw has issued three tickets this year to residents who disobeyed pandemic restrictions by refusing to quarantine or hosting too many people, with a fourth ticket possibly forthcoming.
Each ticket comes with a heavy financial burden, at $1,400 each, explained Const. Devon Oleniuk. The Moose Jaw Police Service is working with public health officials on an incident from earlier this year. More information about that is likely expected soon.
Oleniuk’s brief report was part of the Board of Police Commissioners’ meeting held Dec. 1. During the meeting, police Chief Rick Bourassa provided statistical information about the number of crimes in September and October.
More crimes against people
Police responded to 45 calls about crimes against people this October, compared to 39 calls last October. Year-to-date (YTD), police have responded to 473 calls, compared to 421 calls. This is an increase of 12.4 per cent.
“It’s consistent with what we anticipated with the stressors of the pandemic. We began seeing responses to more serious types of situations involving crimes against the person,” said Bourassa.
The largest increases were in the categories of assault with a weapon/cause bodily harm and threats. Year-to-date, there have been 46 calls about assaults with a weapon/cause bodily harm, compared to 27 calls YTD last year. This represents a 70.4-per-cent increase.
Meanwhile, there were 87 threats YTD, compared to 71 calls last year. This represents an increase of 22.5 per cent.
Domestic disputes
Perhaps the most disturbing is that the number of domestic disputes this year is up compared to 2019. YTD, there have been 138 calls about domestic abuse, compared to 94 during the same time last year. This is an increase of 46.8 per cent.
“(This is) entirely what we expected as we move through the pandemic and the stressors become more and more and more,” the police chief continued. “We’re responding as best we can. It’s difficult to be preventative in these situations. Many of them are happening inside people’s homes and they’re being reported to us afterward.”
However, the Police and Crisis Team (PACT) is doing plenty of work to address those mental health issues.
Bourassa noted the other interesting item was the one homicide in October. Police caught the man alleged to have committed the murder; his preliminary hearing is in March.
“This really does provide some evidence to the (need for an) increase in the (police) budget recently because it’s not just COVID, but it’s a shift in the culture and moving, unfortunately, more toward serious crimes against the person,” said Commissioner Mary Lee Booth. “That (crime stats document) reinforces the argument that we need more members on the force.”
Booth also thought the police service was facing an additional burden with monitoring and enforcing pandemic restrictions.
Business break-ins
Crimes against business premises have also increased year-to-date, with 49 break-and-enters this year compared to 28 last year YTD, for an increase of 75 per cent, said Coun. Heather Eby, herself a business owner.
“That’s just a sad reflection of where we’re at. As if the businesses don’t have enough stresses on them right now and have to worry about that as well,” she added.
The MJPS has seen increases in those incidents during the past couple of months, responded Bourassa. Some businesses are actual storage unit centres, while others have storage units on their property.
Overall crimes against property year-to-date are down compared to 2019. From January to October this year, there have been 1,040 incidents, compared to 1,106 incidents during the same time last year. This represents a decrease of six per cent.
Also of note are arsons, with 11 incidents YTD compared to four last year YTD. This is an increase of 175 per cent.
The next Board of Police Commissioners’ meeting is Jan. 12.
