CHIEF NOT IMPRESSED WITH CRIME ANALYSIS NUMBERS

At first glance the numbers in the Camrose Police Service crime
analysis released last week look pretty positive.

Standing out is the fact that the number of criminal offences that
were committed in 2005 was down by six per cent from the year before.

Enough to put a smile on the face of the Chief of Police Marshall
Chalmers, right?

Well, not exactly.

"The actual numbers in my opinion are still disturbing, even though we
are down," said Chalmers. "We can never be happy with the number of
calls for service because each one of those calls represents an impact
on someone's life.

"We cannot be happy just because we were basically able to maintain
our status quo."

Two-Sided Approach

Chalmers reiterated his stance that the community and the police
service need to work together to combat crime and maintain the
beautiful city we have.

"We all have to work together," he said, "because we, certainly as a
police agency, can't do it ourselves.

"We need to keep fighting, and that is what we are going to do as a
police service, both from the enforcement and educational point of
view."

Attention To Drugs

The report recommends that the Camrose Police Service continue its
enforcement and crime prevention strategies in 2006, with particular
attention being paid to drug offences, which it says can be linked to
other criminal offences.

"We have established a zero tolerance policy with regards to drugs and
I will not move away from that because the cycle is there," said Chalmers.

"The people who are committing these offences are for the most part
committing them to feed their drug habits."

Marihuana continues to be the most commonly used drug, accounting for
65 per cent of the 210 offences in 2005, but cocaine is becoming more
prevalent. The number of persons caught in possession of cocaine in
2005 was 17, compared to just nine the year before.

"We have our plain clothes unit working on drug enforcement. We have
our patrol people working on drug enforcement. Any time we get
information it is followed up on, and if we can lay charges against
somebody that is either in possession or trafficking we do," said Chalmers.

Education Important

Chalmers noted that education, in particular the D.A.R.E. program, is
an extremely important part of the overall fight against drugs.

"I mean the math is pretty simple," he said. "If you can eliminate the
use of drugs then you can eliminate the need for money to buy drugs
that comes from break-ins, thefts and frauds."

Offences Against Persons

The total reported crimes against persons decreased two per cent from
228 in 2004 to 223 in 2005. Four were robberies, 17 were reported
sexual assaults, two were reported assaults on police officers and 30
were assaults with weapons or assaults causing bodily harm. Two of the
four robberies involved the use of a firearm.

"When you look at the number of crimes against persons you can see
that the degree of violence is starting to escalate in regards to gun
use and weapons," said Chalmers. "As for the sexual assaults, those
are horrific crimes. That is something that affects somebody forever."

Property Offences

Offences involving property decreased six per cent from 2004 to 1,062,
with 60 per cent of those being thefts under $5,000. The only areas in
which there were increases were shoplifting (48 per cent), residential
break and enters (four per cent), and possession of stolen property,
12 per cent. Fifty per cent of the business break and enters reported
occurred in the northeast section of the city, while most of the
residential break and enters occurred in the southwest.

"We just need to keep working together and looking out for our
neighbours," said Chalmers. "If the public sees anything suspicious
and gives us a call, we will respond as quickly as we can. There are
many examples of how we have been able to solve a bunch of crimes as a
result of getting one tip."

Other Criminal Code

The number of other criminal offences (offences found in the criminal
code such as breach of probation, bail violations, mischief or
property damage) totalled 1,533, down from 1,636 the year before.
Reports of criminal harassment totalled 39, with four of those
resulting in charges being laid and seven documented/recorded for reference.

People To Police Ratio

The people to police ratio continues to be higher in Camrose than the
provincial average, something that has not gone unnoticed by the
Camrose police commission and Camrose city council.

"Councillors are very in tune with not only the overall types of calls
for service and crime and are ensuring that we have the tools to do
the job," said Chalmers. "You would always like to have more members
(officers) but there is always that struggle to find the balance."

Past Ten Years

The total number of criminal offences in Camrose increased by 93 per
cent, from 1,477 in 1996 to 2,848 in 2005. The number of drug offences
increased by 337 per cent in that period, followed by offences against
persons at 105 per cent, and property offences at 47 per cent.

Other criminal code offences increased by 139 per cent.