intoxication

Crime in Sioux Lookout is trending downward.

Provincial Police say they have responded to 7% fewer violent crime incidents and 15% fewer property crime incidents this year.

Detachment Commander Inspector Mike Kreisz says they are also seeing fewer people being arrested for bail violations.

“We do keep track of the number of offenders we have in our community who are on bail conditions,” says Kreisz.

“And we’ve seen the number of these individuals on conditions go down in the second and third quarter this year. So that certainly could be attributed to the reduction in bail violation occurrences we’re seeing.”

He notes that at the beginning of the year, OPP were monitoring 54 offenders and that fell to 28 in August.

Drug charges are also down, but the amount seized has been significant.

“During Q2, our members conducted an investigation where we saw over $175,000 worth of drugs seized that were being brought up to our communities from Toronto,” says Kreisz.

“Drug enforcement continues to be a huge priority in our cluster, with our community street crime unit continuing to gather intel and execute warrants in the Sioux Lookout area, looking for drugs specifically.”

While crime is down, OPP are seeing an nearly 30% increase in the total calls for service, specifically for unwanted persons or trespassing.

Kreisz notes the vast majority of the calls for service continue to come from areas of the community that are close to where alcohol is sold.

“Sioux Lookout has significantly more police calls related to public intoxication from the consumption of alcohol than anywhere else policed by the OPP.”

Highway Traffic Act charges are also up, 60% over last year’s numbers.

Kreisz attributes that to enforcement campaigns earlier in the year that targeted commercial motor vehicles as part of a winter road safety campaign.