Moose Jaw Police released January crime data at a recent Police Commission meeting.
January crime statistics show a decline in crimes against people and property, but police chiefs said it is too early to extrapolate much from the decline or identify any noticeable patterns. .
“This is one month (look at the data).” Police Chief Rick Bourassa said at the Feb. 15 Police Commission meeting that he was happy to see the decline, but this is just a snapshot. “We can’t determine trends right now, but typically we will be able to do so later this year.”
Although January 1 may be seen as an “arbitrary starting point” for the new year, police are monitoring developments at the end of 2023 and how that flows into 2024, he said. .
The organization will continue to monitor its numbers and if it sees the same type of “anomalous” data months later, it will investigate further to determine what is going on and take steps to respond appropriately. Bourassa continued. .
“At what point does something go from a data point to a trend? I wish I could give you a better answer…” he said.
But if, for example, there is a continued decline in property crimes, that may indicate that people are not reporting those crimes or that they are decreasing, and police officers need to You need to determine what has changed.
“Often we don’t have the answer to it, but we keep looking for it,” Bourassa added.
crime against the person
Data for crimes against this person for January 2024, 2023, and 2022 are as follows:
- Murder: 0 / 0 / 0
- Attempted Murder: 0 / 0 / 0
- Assault (sexual, common, with a weapon, aggravated, against police): 24 / 27 / 23
- Robbery: 2/0/1
- Total: 32 / 35 / 36; 8.6% reduction compared to previous year
Regarding assault in particular, sexual assaults increased by 125%, with nine incidents in January this year compared to four in January last year, and assaults with weapons increased by 150%, with five incidents compared to two.
crime against property
Property crime data for January 2024, 2023, and 2022 is as follows:
- Intrusion (business, residence, other): 17/19/23
- Vehicle theft: 7 / 2 / 9; 250% increase compared to previous year
- Theft over $5,000: 2 / 3 / 0
- Theft under $5,000: 30/85/50; 64.7 percent reduction
- Arson: 0 / 0 / 1
- Mischiefs under $5,000: 8/23/14; 65.2 percent decrease
- Total: 84 / 175 / 124; 52% decrease from previous year
Other incidents
Comparative data for 2024, 2023, and 2022 is below.
- Impaired driving: 5 / 5 / 9
- Failure to comply with court order: 49 / 41 / 66
- Threat: 2 / 3 / 7
- Domestic disputes: 8/6/5
- State liquor violations: 7/14/10
- Vehicle collisions over $1,000: 33/22/25
- Combined violation tickets: 190 / 182 125
- Drugs (cocaine, cannabis, stimulants, other CDSA drugs): 1 / 2 / 5
- Service calls: 1,400 / 1,495 / 1,115
The next Police Commission meeting is Wednesday, March 13th.
