Property crimes within the Drumheller RCMP municipal and rural detachment areas have increased by 27 per cent within the Town of Drumheller, and 88 per cent in the surrounding rural areas over the last quarter from July to September.
Drumheller RCMP Detachment Commander Staff Sergeant Rob Harms presented Town council with the quarterly policing report at the regular Monday, December 5 council meeting and noted increased property crimes is not an issue solely isolated to Drumheller.
“I often compare our local stats to Southern Alberta stats for reference,” S/Sgt Harms tells the Mail.
He explains, when looking at these statistics, he looks at municipalities with populations over 5,000 which are under RCMP jurisdiction, and does not include rural policing areas or municipalities with their own policing service such as Calgary, Medicine Hat, or Lethbridge.
S/Sgt Harms explains crime, overall, is up approximately 12 per cent compared to 2021; the highest increase was to property crimes, which were up 20 per cent.
“Of the property crime increase, break and enters are up 16 per cent, theft of vehicles is up 24 per cent, and theft under $5,000 is up 33 per cent compared to this time last year,” S/Sgt Harms says of the Southern Alberta statistics.
Within the municipal Drumheller detachment area, break and enters were actually down 14 per cent, while theft of vehicles was up 33 per cent, and theft under $5,000 was up 152 per cent; in the rural detachment area, break and enters are up 100 per cent, theft of motor vehicles was up 600 per cent, and theft under $5,000 was up 275 per cent.
S/Sgt Harms noted during the Drumheller council meeting there is also a significant increase in the number of federal offenses due to the work put in by the detachment’s General Investigative Section (GIS) unit, which has been working towards one of the outlined community priorities to reduce substance abuse.
He explained during the meeting working to reduce substance abuse is a “major component of crime reduction” as substance and drug abuse often has some correlation to other crimes dealt with by RCMP.
Over the last few months, the GIS unit has successfully executed several warrants which has resulted in several individuals being charged with federal offenses.
Between July and September, there were a total of 27 federal offenses compared to 11 in the same quarter in 2021, an increase of 145 per cent.
