Story by Chris Roach
This past long weekend, additional resources were deployed to Onion Lake to focus on community and traffic safety through targeted enforcement. This was due to an increase in the number of calls for service over the last several months.
Members of the Onion Lake Detachment have been working closely with community members to help with this issue. One result of this consultation has been an increase in several crime reduction initiatives including targeted warrant execution and an increased use of Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers.
These increased resources resulted in 890 vehicles being stopped, leading to 140 charges under the provincial safety act including six for impaired driving. There was also 36 criminal code charges, ranging from stolen vehicles to prohibited weapons. They were also able to charge eight individuals with drug related offences and 16 for breaching their court imposed conditions.
Seven stolen vehicles were also recovered over the weekend.
“An increase in criminal activity of any kind is concerning and requires a collaborative response from the community and the police. In Onion Lake, we are fortunate to have the support of local community members and elected officials,” said S/Sgt. Ken Burnouf, Onion Lake RCMP Detachment Commander.
“This support is essential to both police and public safety. Working together to develop and implement crime reduction strategies is critical to community safety.”