Fewer break-ins, thefts and traffic collisions led to fewer calls for police service in 2013.
In the fourth quarter statistics, released by Campbell River RCMP, there were 470 fewer calls for service last year compared with 2012.
Break and enter investigations were also at the lowest level since 2007 when police implemented a new data tracking system.
In the last half of 2007, Mounties investigated almost 200 break-ins to homes, businesses and other buildings. In contrast, there were just 177 reported break-ins in all 2013.
Since then, there’s been a slow decline, with B&Es to residences, other buildings, theft of autos and thefts from vehicles all dropping in frequency. Although, last year, there was a slight increase in the number of business B&Es from 36 to 40, in comparison to 2012 numbers.
There were also significant drops in traffic accidents. In 2012, there were 102 collisions investigated compared to 89 last year.
Injury accidents also fell from 101 to 87, however, there were two traffic fatalities in 2013 compared to the previous year. Liquor-related offences were down slightly from 797 to 749, but there was a large spike in drug offences from 282 to 331, an increase of more than 17 per cent. In total, there was a 3.5 per cent drop in total calls for service from 2012-’13 from 13,425 to 12,955.
According to Insp. Lyle Gelinas, who is leaving command of the city detachment to take a promotion in Alberta, the RCMP continue to focus on crime reduction which includes tagging/graffiti.
As well, in the final fiscal quarter of 2013, the detachment held nine restorative justice forums which allows people to make up for their crimes outside the court system.
Those involved in the forums included four males, eight females, 11 youths and three adults. The oldest person was 29 and the youngest was 13.