On Tuesday, Nelson Police Chief Constable Donovan Fisher provided city council with a year-to-date statistics report on the crime rates in the city.
In his presentation, Fisher revealed that the department has received 2,450 calls for service so far this year, a 2.42 per cent increase in call volume compared to the same time in 2023.
According to his report, police responded to 65 cases of assault so far this year versus 29 in 2023, representing a 124 per cent increase.
Crimes involving offensive weapons increased by 300 per cent this year, with the detachment dealing with four incidents versus one in 2023.
Sexual violations saw a slight increase as well, with the NPD handling 10 sexual violations in 2024, an 11 per cent increase from 2023 when the detachment saw nine.
Additionally, police responded to 34 reports of break and enters this year versus 23 last year, representing a 47 per cent increase, and fraud cases have jumped by 34 per cent.
The majority of the city’s break and enters occurred in early spring, stated Fisher.
However, he said that there has been a decline in the last few months, and that the department has been successful in identifying the perpetrators, pressing charges, and returning stolen property to its owners.
Prolific offenders have slightly influenced the crime rate in the community, with Fisher revealing that March alone saw 14 commercial break and enters, all committed by the same three individuals.
Fisher said since the three perpetrators were caught and incarcerated, the rate of commercial break-ins has dropped significantly.
There was also a spike in car thefts for about 4-6 weeks this year, which Fisher said was the act of one person who is now behind bars.
“Yes, there can be one or two individuals that really run rampant within the city and cause a lot of crimes. When you get those spikes, it takes a lot of legwork to put those cases together,” he said.
“The impact the offender has on the community is all taken into consideration when the justice system looks at whether to release or not. But the fact is, when you compound that with no fixed address and possibly some addiction issues. You can make the case that there’s a very high likelihood to reoffend and we aren’t always successful in keeping those people in custody, but we try.”
The city has seen some decreases in crime categories: theft is down 9 per cent with 175 cases reported this year versus 193 in 2023.
Threats and harassment are down 8 per cent and traffic violations are down 38 per cent, which Fisher credited to traffic enforcement being down as officers were busy dealing with more serious acts of crime this year.
“Traffic violations are somewhat down because officers are tied up with more serious matters, so the proactive work of traffic enforcement is unfortunately probably being lost.”
There are some specific areas in town that have seen the most calls, including in front of City Hall where the unhoused encampment has been located since March.
Last year, there were zero reports of violent offences at City Hall, but this year there have been seven so far.
Fisher said the spike started on March 16.
The rate of crime around Stepping Stones has stayed relatively the same, with six violent offences both this year and last.
Fisher said the detachment’s workload has increased more than the crime statistics show and that moving forward, it’s important to know the root causes of the problem around crime prevention and prevention through other means to help curb the problem before it becomes a crime.
“I think we see a correlation between substance abuse and a number of our crimes. Changes in the homeless population can impact statistics, particularly in areas near shelters or, in this case, encampments. We have changed some of our policing and reporting to ensure that we’re capturing more reported incidents in a more effective way,” he said.
“Crimes are reported by people who come across them, which normally wouldn’t get reported. Visibility and community engagement are also contributing to the increase in reported crimes.”
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