BONNYVILLE – Despite the pandemic, Bonnyville RCMP saw a drop in their crime stats for 2020.
“We’re very pleased that although we had anticipated there might be some issues with the downturn in the economy and the COVID crisis, we were able to see that our crime statistics didn’t jump in any considerable manner,” Bonnyville RCMP Sgt. Kim Hillier explained. “We had a few months where they were a little bit up, but other than that, we saw a decrease over the whole entire year.”
Hillier gave Town of Bonnyville council a breakdown of the local detachment’s crime statistics and what members have been up to in the last year during council's Tuesday, May 11 meeting.
Bonnyville RCMP members responded to around 1,960 traffic investigations within their detachment area, even though they weren't advised to do traffic stops in 2020 due to provincial restrictions. There were also 480 traffic collisions reported.
False alarms and false 911 calls came in at 186 and 249 respectively.
There were 290 assault files in 2020, and 95 domestic violence calls for service, and local officers were involved in 49 Controlled Drugs and Substances Acts investigations.
“Although COVID was supposed to shut people in their houses, there was still no shortage of drug investigations to be had,” Hillier noted. “Our General Investigation Section (GIS) Unit was still very active and their involvement in these investigations probably brought us to some completions we wouldn’t have seen otherwise.”
Hillier added that thanks to the GIS Unit, Bonnyville has developed a reputation as a town “where the police crackdown on drug dealers,” however, addiction is still a prevalent issue in the community.
“Unfortunately, long-time users, it’s not something that we can arrest someone for possession of meth and they’re just going to stop using. It’s a horrible addiction and one that’s very difficult for them to get out of. They will look for and find the drugs if they have to go to an outside town or bring it from Edmonton or what have you.”
Mayor Gene Sobolewski commended Hillier and the GIS Unit for all that they’ve done for the community.
“Hearing that the Town of Bonnyville has a reputation for cracking down on drugs brings nothing but joy to my heart because that’s exactly the goal that we were seeking and good on yourselves for doing that because that’s a job well done,” he expressed. “Kudos to the MD (of Bonnyville) and the council of the day that actually got that going and fought with the province because that’s one that we can really hang our hat on.”
An important statistic Hillier brought attention to was the 257 mental health related calls Bonnyville handled in 2020, which she said wasn’t a unique problem to the area.
“Obviously, that’s something that is a concern across the board, and as a police force, we’re dealing with that in our community,” she explained. “Some of those were due to addictions and (others) were the downturn in the economy. There’s a broad spectrum of why we were being called out to these calls, but it definitely does show an increase from past years.”
Hillier went on to say that these calls “involve our members making a decision on the scene whether or not the person who is going through a mental health crisis is a danger to herself, himself, or the public.”
She continued, “If that person is deemed to be a danger, we transport them to the St. Paul psychiatric centre.”
According to Hillier, these transfers can take up to three or four hours of an officer’s time, depending on how long they have to wait at the hospital with the patient.
"That’s something that we’re working closely with the Bonnyville Healthcare Centre on to develop a better process or to look at ways of streamlining the process so that our members aren’t tied up with health-related calls.”
There were only 33 COVID-19 related cases that were dealt with by the Bonnyville RCMP in 2020. That’s a number that has increased, Hillier stated, in the new fiscal year.
“We’ve added a few to that, but that was somewhat surprising to me. I had expected we would see more of those, but we didn’t.”
When asked by council why they would have responded to these calls, Hillier explained the RCMP’s part in this is enforcing the provincial health regulations.
“If there’s something that happens and it pertains to a business, then it falls under the health inspector in Bonnyville first to deal with that. If there’s any possibility that it might turn violent or there might be some issue, then he’ll call us to assist. But we do follow up on a lot of calls where people are calling just to say ‘my neighbour is having a party and there’s way more than the number of people that are allowed to be there’ and we’ll go by. Our first step is to educate them and let them know that they’re breaching these health orders. Those are the calls that we dealt with directly, was neighbours or follow-up when someone has returned from out of the country, and we have tasks that are assigned to us to go and make sure they’re educated about following their quarantine and that they’re not leaving their residence and that sort of thing.”
Hillier described their flight from police statistics, which were at 20 for last year, as “alarming.”
“That means that the criminal that we were trying to stop decided to run off or drive off. Sometimes they drive through fences and we had one drive onto the lake,” she recalled. “That’s on the rise and it poses an extra danger to our members that we haven’t really had in the past years. We, as a force, have been developing a lot of policy around when we will pursue and when we will not, which in-turn then leads to some questions from the community. But we always have to mitigate the risk as opposed to what the offence is that we’re pursuing for.”
There were 229 impaired operation investigations, with 30 of those being roadside suspensions. In December 2020, police officers across the province began enforcing the Provincial Sanctions and Roadside Suspension legislation.
“In my opinion, it has really allowed our members to crack down on impaired driving,” Hillier told council. “The first offence for failure on a roadside screening device carries some very heavy sanctions, so instead of waiting for the member to do the file and put it through to the courts, we’re able to actually deal with that situation as it’s happening and get that person off the roads. That’s really a high point for us this year. Our members are out there, they’re using our mandatory screening devices, and looking for those impaired drivers making our community a lot safer.”
After hearing concerns from residents within their jurisdiction about a lack of police presence, Hillier began tracking focused patrols beginning in the summer of 2020 and recorded 1,214 additional patrols over the course of 10 months.
“The way I think of it is we’re out there, we’re in communities, we’re patrolling and doing things, however, people who have no call to be involved in criminal activity and are lucky enough not to be victims of criminal activity just don’t come into contact with us,” she said, adding she was proud of her members for all of their hard work.
“I’m very pleased with how they bought into the documentation and how we were able to show we’re in Glendon, the town, and the areas that have been considered hot spots. How many times our members actually do go out there and make a patrol, or are in the area looking for criminal activity, I believe it just adds a little bit of an overview of what it is we’re actually doing for people who don’t come into contact with us.”
One of the main priorities for the Bonnyville RCMP is getting out and involved with the residents in the area. It was a bit tough recently, but they still managed to organize some events.
“Although COVID-19 was a very difficult year as far as policing was concerned with all of the restrictions and openings and closings and everything that everyone is having to deal with, we did still manage to spend quite a bit of time in our community,” detailed Hillier.
A new project that was kick started in April of 2020 was birthday parades. Local RCMP, along with other local law enforcement, would make a child’s quarantine birthday special by driving by their home with lights and sirens. Last year, local officers took part in roughly 100.
“We were able to interact with people on that level, although we couldn’t get up close and personal like we normally do. We still made a great effort this year and I’m very proud of what my members were able to accomplish, even with all of the restrictions that were placed on them.”
The Bonnyville RCMP’s priorities for the upcoming year include crime reduction and community engagement along with traffic enforcement, youth, general crime reduction, and member wellness.
