The RCMP released the crime stats for Rossland recently and they show that there have been a few areas where crime rates have gone up, but it has mostly stayed the same.
The stats are taken from the July to December of 2011 and are compared in the document to those of the same time in 2010. As well as throughout the year.
The frequency of theft, mischief and possession of stolen items decreased slightly in the second half of 2011 with 24 occurrences, down from 26 the year before. The total for the year was also down, at 43, from 50 the year before.
Drug offences jumped to eight in 2011, from four in 2010.
There was one theft of a motor vehicle in 2011, and two in 2010.
There were 10 break and enters in 2011, those were devised between the first and second half of year. This followed five the year before.
There were four sexual assaults in 2011, all in the latter half of the year. There were none reported in 2010.
There were 10 occurrences of assault in 2011, up from eight in 2010.
There were no murders or attempted break and enters in either years.
Coun. Jody Blomme said the stats are so low it was difficult to talk about trends, though she was curious about the instances.
“How do we find out if anybody was charged? Were the bad guys caught?” Blomme asked. “Or are these sort of open ended and we don’t know if the perpetrator is still out there? And could be potentially at risk of doing it again. How do we find out that information and is there anything we can do with that information to spread the word?”
CAO Victor Kumar responded that only issues that have gone through the courts are public information.
“If it’s not then it’s probably not released from the RCMP,” Kumar said.
“So apart from researching every individual, there’s no way of just finding out,” Blomme said.
Kumar said that Staff Sgt. Hawton can probably give council a more detailed analysis, but it would have to be a meeting closed to the public.
Blomme said that it may be interesting to find out that information.
She said that the situation could be open for the city to have a bit of responsibility on the crime front.
“We could take responsibility of something if we really fully understood the situation,” Blomme said. “Whether it’s awareness, a few lines in the newsletter even, if there is some sort of awareness we should be spreading through council.”
Mayor Greg Granstrom said that they would look later this month to have the meeting.