The City of Grande Prairie saw a three per cent increase in total Criminal Code Offences when compared to the first quarter of last year.
The City saw a five per cent increase in Persons Crime, an eight per cent increase in Break and Enter offences, a two per cent increase in Theft Under $5,000, and a 54 per cent increase in “other” offences such as missing court dates.
Grande Prairie RCMP Superintendent Lee Brachmann spoke on the matter saying while the increase is rather small, the ideal situation would be a decrease overall.
“Ideally from my perspective, I’d love to see a decrease right now,” he says. “We’re still fairly [early] in the calendar year, those numbers will fluctuate as the year goes on, ideally I’d like to see a downward trend there.”
As a result, Brachmann says his detachment has identified a number of key priorities to address crime in the city such as rolling out increased police presence in problem areas identified throughout Grande Prairie while continuing to collaborate with the new Grande Prairie Police Service.
“One of our priorities is to do some analytical work to see some of the underlying trends related to that so that we can put some strategies forward to hopefully look at ways to reduce those upward trends,” he says. “Right now in terms of enforcement priorities, we have three key priority areas, of course, there’s a number of concerns in various areas of the city, we’re going to be focusing on some of the downtown core.”
Despite the increase in some areas, the city did see an overall decrease in property crime, falling by 16 per cent when compared to the same period in 2023. Additionally, the city saw 19 fewer instances of motor vehicle theft, an overall decrease of 21 per cent.
Brachmann describes the reduction in property crime as “enviable” especially when compared to other cities of similar size.
“Overall I’m fairly pleased, although I’d love to see additional downward trends as the year goes on,” he says.
The Superintendent credits initiatives like the RCMP’s recent “Operation Cold Start” with the reduction in motor vehicle thefts and Brachmann says further initiatives will be implemented as the year goes on.
