Williams Lake RCMP have had four serious investigations already in 2022, Staff Sgt. Darren Dodge, officer in charge, told city council during a presentation Tuesday, May 24.
The first was the murder of a 26-year-old male on Jan. 22 in the 600 block of Carson Drive that resulted in a 34-year-old male from Williams Lake being charged with murder.
On April 1, 2021, an 18-year-old female reported that she had been forcibly abducted and sexually assaulted.
Dodge said an investigation by frontline members, the general investigation unit and the Cariboo Regional Crime Reduction Unit led to a suspect being identified and arrested in less than 12 hours. A report to Crown Counsel has been submitted for charge review.
On April 17, 2022 at 2:37 a.m. there was an attempted home invasion where a large group of people, some armed with firearms, attempted to break into a residence on the 300 block of Ninth Avenue.
“Shots were fired but fortunately nobody was injured. A possible suspect was identified and arrested later that day and again a report to Crown Counsel has been submitted for charge review.”
Dodge also cited the May 5 murder of a 19-year-old in the 300 block of Midnight Drive.
“That investigation was taken over by the North District Major Crime Unit, just because of resource issues,” he told council.
Crime trends for the first four months of 2022
Dodge said calls for service to the Williams Lake RCMP have decreased by 16 per cent in the first four months of 2022.
There were 1972 calls compared to 2353 calls in 2021.
Assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm incidents increased from eight in 2021 to 10 in 2022.
Common assaults went from 57 in 2021 to 63 in 2022.
Theft of auto was up from 21 in 2021 to 28 in 2022 and mischief of property went from 71 in 2022 to 77 in 2022.
All other types of crime saw a decrease or no increase.
Prolific offenders
The local detachment has identified 10 prolific offenders who are being monitored on a regular basis.
“These 10 prolific offenders have almost 2,000 recorded interactions with police in the last 10 years and 74 of those interactions have occurred in the last four months.”
Eight of the 74 interactions have resulted in charges and four other charges have been forwarded to Crown for review.
Presently three of the 10 prolific offenders are in custody.
Three are not in custody, but are on curfew conditions, and one of them has an electronic monitor.
Staffing
There are five vacancies at the detachment which include operations support sergeant, a watch corporal and three frontline constables.
“As well as those vacancies we also have five members on medical leave and two members on light duties,” Dodge said.
A new corporal from Fort St. John has been hired to take over the general investigations section who has experience investigating organized crime.
A new operations support sergeant from Terrace will arrive later this summer and an experienced frontline officer while two other recent graduates of the RCMP training academy will be hired to fill the other frontline officer vacancies.
The constable in the municipal traffic position was returned to frontline duty until staffing pressures decrease.
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