According to Strathmore’s Provincial Crime Gauge, criminal code offences have dropped by a total of 12 per cent from January 2023 - November 2023.
The RCMP have done presentations to councils in Rockyford and Standard, and submitted a report to Hussar, explaining their reports in the last year and breaking down their crime statistics. Persons crimes such as stabbings and assaults are down by 15 per cent, and property crimes are down by 10 per cent. Theft of vehicles and personal property may not be viewed as grave as persons crimes, since they aren’t being physically abused, yet they can
be more aggravating to the public. Break and enters have decreased by 16 per cent,
with 8 fewer occurrences than in 2022, and theft under $5000 had decreased by 33 percent, with 31 fewer cases. The theft of motor vehicles has risen by 5 per cent with three more being stolen than the previous year.
Strathmore RCMP’s Staff Sergeant Mark Wielgosz tells The Mail that the main reason for the overall drop in crime is credited to reductions in property crime such as break and enters and theft under $5000. “One of our Detachment priorities was to focus on Property Crimes, specifically Break and Enter, Theft from Motor Vehicles, and Theft of Motor Vehicles. To achieve a goal of maintaining or reducing crime in these areas we employed a number of strategies.
Most effective in these strategies was our habitual offender management program which focuses attention on known persons or properties which are most negatively impactful on our communities. Through this program we were able to shut down a problematic property where stolen property was frequently stored, area habitual offenders would either frequent or stay on the property, and subjects were found wanted on various crimes,” explains Wielgosz, “Another contributing factor is our watch clerk program. Each of our watches has a clerk assigned who can complete much of the administrative tasks for our members thereby maximizing their ability to be present in our rural areas. This has been very helpful to prevent, detect, and to deter crime in our rural areas.”