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Police remained busy through the end of July

The Estevan Police Service has seen a decrease in the number of calls in the first seven months of the year, but they have remained busy. According to numbers released at the Aug.
POLICE

The Estevan Police Service has seen a decrease in the number of calls in the first seven months of the year, but they have remained busy. 

According to numbers released at the Aug. 19 meeting of the Estevan board of police commissioners, the EPS has had 5,042 infractions and calls for service through July 31, compared to 5,183 for the first seven months of 2019.  

It’s a reversal of a trend seen in the first six months of the year, when the EPS was typically busier than in 2019. From Jan. 1 to June 30 of this year, the EPS had 4,061 calls for service, compared to 3,898 in 2019.  

But it is notable the EPS had nearly 1,300 calls for service in July 2019 alone.

Police Chief Paul Ladouceur pointed out that crimes against the person were up 22 per cent for the first seven months of the year, from 69 to 84. Sixty-eight crimes against the person this year were assaults. Police also handled nine sexual crimes and seven assaults causing bodily harm.

“There’s not a great enough variance over a long-term period to say that’s attributed to anything specific,” said Ladouceur. 

Crimes against property were up nine per cent from 173 to 188. Mischief and wilful damage complaints have increased from 67 to 94 this year.  

“Some of those were attributed to multiple incidents were oil was spilled on properties and eggs were thrown by a group of people,” he said.

Drug trafficking was up from 12 to 13 charges, and drug possession charges rose from 12 to 15 in the first seven months of the year. 

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The July report for Spec. Constable Morgan Prentice, who is the city’s bylaw officer, showed that she had 157 occurrences in July. Ninety-three of them were for unkempt property inspections. She also had 28 parking violations and 11 animal-related calls.  

Ladouceur noted that Prentice tended to 304 unkempt property calls in the first seven months, compared to 191 a year earlier, and she has been getting out and notifying people if their properties are believed to be in substandard shape. 

“We’ve put an emphasis moving forward on alleyways and civic addresses being placed in alleyways on fences. If you have an … alleyway, then you’re required to have numbers on the back of your fence.” 

The rationale, he said is for responding emergency crews, who might access a building via the alley. 

If police are dealing with a barricaded or unco-operative subject, they might have to surround a residence, and would access the building via the alley.  

People have also been asking questions about swimming pools, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic with people spending more time at home.  Ladouceur said it’s important for people to be mindful of pool safety, regardless of the size of the pool.