Crime statistics in the Powell River region are on the rise, according to staff sergeant Rod Wiebe, Powell River RCMP’s detachment commander.
Speaking at the March 3 City of Powell River committee of the whole meeting, Wiebe outlined 2019 statistics for city councillors.
“We can probably say this has been the making of a perfect storm in Powell River this year, given that our caseload is up and our staffing shortages had a direct effect on the crime severity index,” said Wiebe.
In terms of community safety, crime severity statistics indicate Powell River is steadily going down, which means getting worse. In 2017, Powell River was ranked 110 in the national survey. In 2019 the rank was 86. A rating of one would be the worst. Statistics are compiled on the basis of incidents per 100,000 population.
In terms of the violent crime severity index, in 2019 there were no murders in the Powell River jurisdiction. In the two previous years, there were murders in the region. Wiebe said, however, that the impaired driving rate is 425 for every 100,000 population, and the Canadian average is 109, so Powell River is extremely high in that area.
Wiebe showed a graph of crime statistics pertaining to common offences that tend to impact the community as a whole and all of the numbers are up significantly. He said break and enters are up 140 per cent, theft under $5,000 is up 60 per cent, simple assaults are up 61 per cent, impaired driving was up eight per cent, drug crime is up 48 per cent and mental health complaints are up 20 per cent.
Wiebe said he included mental health in the statistics because it has become such a big part of policing and is so time consuming.
“It’s an area where police shouldn’t always have to be dealing with but we are and the reports are on the increase,” said Wiebe.
In terms of drug trafficking, investigations are up significantly and for Wiebe, that involves the hard work of RCMP members on the streets.
“They are out there pounding the pavement, talking to people and getting information,” he said. “We managed to crank out 15 search warrants executed on properties. To put that in context, to get the grounds can take weeks, it can take months and sometimes it can take over a year. A lot of work goes into that.”
Drug seizures include cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, cannabis and GHB. Wiebe said fentanyl is the biggest seizure and it’s the drug of choice right now, followed by cocaine and marijuana.
Wiebe said Powell River’s police force is part of the provincial tactical enforcement priority. He said it means Powell River RCMP list all of the who’s who in the area and come up with the people they want to target.
“We’ve been highly successful in the program,” said Wiebe. “Given our shortages, the amount of work our plainclothes guys are putting in is amazing and is recognized as having one of the best rates in the Island district for disrupting the people we choose in Powell River.
“We take down these people and seize what we can,” said Wiebe. “We’ve had four vehicles seized and that includes a Cadillac sedan we took from the bad guy. Out of those warrants we have charged nine different people, including some up-and-comers who decided Powell River is a good place to set up business. We act very quickly when these people come to town and make sure we don’t have any gang affiliations trying to set up and work in Powell River.”
Wiebe said calls for service have steadily increased. He said the number had increased 13 per cent from 2018 to 2019, and from 2018, call value is up 20 per cent.
“That’s just a sign of the times and demographics in Powell River are changing,” said Wiebe. “Other agencies are changing mandates and unfortunately we tend to be the catch-all. If people don’t know who to call, they call us.
“Given our service, for a small town, we haven’t had to say no yet but I’m sure it is going to come to the point where we have to start prioritizing. As it stands now, no one gets told no.”
Priorities for 2019/2020 included road safety, crime reduction, youth, domestic violence, employee wellness and working with Tla’amin Nation. Wiebe asked councillors to let him know what they would like to see Powell River RCMP focus on in 2020.
Mayor Dave Formosa thanked Wiebe for his report and said there were a number of significant issues where there were rises in different areas of policing. Formosa said this is a pretty common scenario around the province.
“The increase we are seeing, other communities are seeing similarly, and I believe that’s due to the increase in rent,” said Formosa. “When housing costs went up, we started seeing more and more people on the streets and more and more issues. Is there any truth to the fact that other jurisdictions are seeing large bumps in the last two or three years since the real estate boom?”
Wiebe said it’s true. He said Vancouver Island district is also trending up, although not as high as Powell River.
Formosa then asked about staffing and Wiebe said in the next couple of months, Powell River RCMP should be getting three members back from maternity leave. Formosa said he wants the public to know that when a member is off, they are not backfilled. He said with a new officer budgeted for and the three members coming back, it should help out.
Committee chair Jim Palm said the numbers Wiebe had outlined were disturbing to him. He said the level of increase was not just substantial, it was right off the charts.
Palm said a lot of the problems seem to be related to the drug culture. Wiebe said the number one priority is drug enforcement. For Powell River to be rated alongside Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside for overdose deaths doesn’t sit well with the RCMP, he added.
“We’ve put extra effort into drug traffic enforcement,” said Wiebe. “and we’ve had great success with that.”
