Even though the weather remains summer-like, Grand Forks RCMP say they’ve noticed a decline in calls for service.
According to a news release from the local detachment, the summer months generally keep police officers busy with a noted increase in calls for service, which tends to tail off come September. That is once again the case this year for.
Sgt. Daryl Peppler says July and August are typically the two busiest months of the year. In July of this year, police attended 303 calls for service and in August, there were 359. Come September, the call volume dropped to 183, despite the summer-like conditions.
Grand Forks officers see a wide variety of calls which can range from a causing a disturbance to an attempted robbery, Peppler says. Some of the most common calls are reports of suspicious people or occurrences, checking on someone’s well-being, and traffic-related complaints.
Compared to last year, 2022 actually brought lower numbers overall. In July 2021, Mounties attended 378 calls and August brought 344 calls for a total of 722 compared to 662 for the same period in 2022. In September 2021, officers attended 258 calls, 75 more than in September 2022.
“In the summer months, we typically see a lot of ‘reactive’ policing attending from call to call which keeps us very busy,” Peppler says. “Once the summer rush is over, we try to increase our ‘proactive’ policing approach with more public engagements, higher community visibility and other initiatives such as traffic safety and other projects.”