(File photo/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Crime stats

Assaults and gun complaints up in May; property crimes dropping

Jun 22, 2020 | 12:07 PM

For the fifth consecutive month, the Prince Albert Police Service (PAPS) experienced an increase in calls, totalling over 4,000 in May.

This represented a 15-per-cent increase over the same month in 2019.

While overall numbers are higher this year, the police services notes proactive, self-generated calls (Neighbourhood Strengthening) are 175 per cent higher this year than last.

When taking a closer look at May’s numbers, there were both positives and negatives for the police service.

One of the areas that continues to see a decrease in numbers is crimes against property. Break and enter complaints related to residential properties were down significantly, as were complaints related to possession of stolen property, shoplifting and thefts under $5,000.

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Areas seeing increases last month included firearm seizures and crimes against persons, specifically assaults.

By the end of May 2020, PAPS seized 57 firearms; 16.3 per cent higher than 2019 numbers and is 20 per cent higher than the five-year average.

There were 79 assaults reported last month, compared to 69 the year prior.

One other area with a noticable increase, and may simply be due to stricter enforcement, is drug seizures and trafficking. For May, there were 20 reports related to trafficking versus six in May, 2019.

Total reports under the controlled drugs and substances act have doubled year over year from 18 to 36, and there has been a 36 per cent increase when comparing year to date numbers for 2019 and 2020.

COVID-19 complaints

As of Tuesday, June 16, the Prince Albert Police Service received 94 COVID-19 related compliance complaints.

There were 47 related to people not complying to group protocols, seven for businesses not complying, and 13 for people not isolating.There have been no charges laid.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell