Corporals Susan Boyes and Phillip Atoui answered questions from council members about some of the stats in the RCMP’s quarterly report for the Town of Gibsons on July 18.
Susan Boyes is the interim operations non-commissioned officer, taking over for Darren Mckay until a permanent replacement is set.
Although the majority of statistics on crime and police involvement have not varied much from this time last year, some figures raised concern among the council.
Mayor Silas White asked about the increase in mental health flags, which had risen to 80 from 39 last year, as well as cause disturbances which rose to 39 reports from 10 last year.
Cpl. Boyes explained that the RCMP has determined that it is nine individuals that are responsible for the vast majority of those types of incidents, which include mischief calls, breaking and entering and mental health calls.
“They certainly are in need of some support, whether it's housing or mental health support, and we do our best to direct them to those agencies that provide that assistance,” she said to the council.
She also explained that calls like “check well being” calls are included under the mental health flag, and that not every call is due to an incident.
Councillor De Andrade raised concerns about repeat offenders and the effectiveness of rehabilitation.
Cpl. Boyes also included that the Sunshine Coast accounts for 1.6 per cent of all Mental Health Flag calls in British Columbia.
There were a number of statistics however, that had improved significantly from this time last year.
Impaired operations of a motor vehicle dropped to 5 from 18 last year, and property crimes dropped to 53 from 70 .
Overall the RCMP calls for service increased to 526 from 508, however, the number of priority 1 calls went down to 60 from 71 last year.
Jordan Copp is the Coast Reporter’s civic and Indigenous affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
