Bonnyville–Cold Lake MLA Scott Cyr took some time in question period today to point out what he says is a worrying increase in crime in Cold Lake.
“The downturn in the economy has brought with it a very scary increase in crime for ridings like mine,” Cyr said. “The men and women of the RCMP in my riding and across Alberta are working so hard to keep our streets safe, but they need more support from this government. No one is interested in hearing this government pass the blame. We all want solutions as soon as possible.”
the Cold Lake RCMP Detachment filed 9,279 incidents in its Police Occurrence Reporting System (PROS) in 2016, compared to 8,447 in 2015. PROS reports are for any sort of altercation police have with the public, which isn’t always a crime. it appears 2015 might have been an anomaly, being lower than the 9,398 reported in 2014 and 9,558 in 2013.
Still, Cyr highlighted a few areas where 2016 vastly outpaced 2015. Car thefts were up 79%, Assaults up 36% and Break and Enters up 55. Cyr wants to see more done by Edmonton to reverse the trend.
“Albertans are tired of hearing about the NDP government spending $10 million on carbon tax ads while it’s letting accused criminals go because the justice system doesn’t have the resources it needs to prosecute offenders,” Cyr said. “Let’s focus on solving this problem now with a real strategy on rural crime”.
There are a few areas in the report where crime decreased. Mischief to Property was down 15% and Disturbing the Peace was down 30%.