MORE THAN HALF OF RCMP'S CALLS INVOLVED ALCOHOL

Statistics released this week by the Whitehorse RCMP show that police
officers in the capital are busier this year than they were in 2008.

The quarterly report is regularly sent to city council and the Kwanlin
Dun First Nation chief and council, and has been released (in part) to
the media for the first time this year.

It's an effort to show what the detachment members are doing, and to
keep the public abreast of policing priorities, Sgt. Don Rogers said
about releasing the numbers.

The statistics which have been made public are those that focus on the
force's priorities for 2009/2010: Reducing the number of impaired
drivers by actively seeking out and charging impaired drivers,
increasing the number of drug enforcement charges with a focus on
disruption of organized drug traffickers, and reducing the number of
alcohol-related calls for service through education and public outreach.

Overall, the Whitehorse detachment received 3,245 calls for service
between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2009. That is a 20 per cent increase from
the same time period last year and 10 per cent boost from the last
three-year average.

More than half of those calls - 1,880 - involved alcohol. In 87 of the
calls, drugs abuse was reported, a sharp decline from the same time
last year, when drug use was reported in 189 calls.

Some of the overall increase was due to more people calling to report
impaired drivers: Last year, police received 263 such calls during the
summer quarter, with 330 coming in this summer.

Calls about drug-related offences (buying and selling as opposed to
using) were also down to 101, from 129 during the same period last
year.

The numbers "are indicative of the efforts being made towards
achieving these policing objectives for the City of Whitehorse,"
Rogers said.

The report also highlighted three significant files from the summer
quarter. At the top of the list is Project Macer, an undercover
operation which used a police informant and led to the arrests of five
suspected high-level drug traffickers.

More than a kilogram of cocaine was seized during the operation, along
with 1,300 Ecstasy pills and more than $152,000 in cash.

Police estimated the drugs would have sold for $170,000 on the street
and that over the course of a year, drug profits would extend into the
millions of dollars.

There was one homicide during the summer. A 56-year-old man was killed
in the Crestview subdivision on Aug. 8. A 16-year-old girl turned
herself in later that same day and has been charged with second-degree
murder; her identity is protected because she is a minor.

Also under arrest is the person believed to be responsible for a
significant amount of graffiti around Whitehorse.

Jesse Pickles, 18, was arrested after a downtown resident called
police to report two people in black hoodies wielding cans of spray
paint.

Police believe Pickles may have scrawled the name Sonic on many of the
city's walls, trash cans and playgrounds.

Finally, the report noted a surprising leap in the number of criminal
records checks and pardon requests handled by the RCMP's civilian
staff during the past six months.

The number of requests rose from 239 for the first two quarters of
2008 to 1,467 in the same period of 2009.

Rogers attributed the jump to more awareness on the part of employers
and volunteer organizations who want background information on
potential workers.

To meet the higher demand, Rogers said administrators at the
detachment are considering enlisting the help officers who are not on
active duty.

The detachment is also trying to streamline front-desk operations, he
said, pointing to a recent request by police that people reporting
vehicle collisions have a damage estimate done before coming in to the
detachment.

This does not apply when police have responded to the scene of the
crash, he noted.