Grand Forks RCMP has released more crime statistics and planning for 2018 following their council presentation last Monday. Calls for service increased from 3000 in 2016 to 3353 in 2017 of which 168 were false or abandoned calls, and 216 were false alarms. There were also 93 animal calls and 292 traffic calls in 2017.
Last year also saw 179 calls directly involving the mental health act with approximately 20% of all Grand Forks files involving a mental health component. In 2016 the detachment lodged 257 prisoners, which went down to 193 in 2017. Staff resources were short a lot of the year due to injury, deployment , and approximately 370 hours of policing was lost to Interface fire deployments in 2017.
Major initiatives currently in operation include the Blockwatch program, having a school liaison and D.A.R.E. program and youth safety education, The Prolific Offender Program, Christina Lake Summer policing, and more. Some major objectives for this year involve continuing efforts in solving property crime, identifying and pursuing methamphetamine and fentanyl dealers, and ensuring that roads are safe with traffic enforcement.