MOOSE JAW — Police board members will have to wait until January to receive accurate crime statistics after unexpected “anomalies” crept into the November report and inflated some numbers by over 400 per cent.
The Moose Jaw Police Service presented the data during the Board of Police Commissioners’ Dec. 11 meeting, with Deputy Chief Rick Johns acknowledging that police leadership noticed “small anomalies” with the numbers because the analyst appeared to have issues inputting the data.
“So, I can’t speak to the level of accuracy in some of the key areas,” he said.
Compared to the October report, the “anomalies” in the November document appeared to affect the crimes against the person category, specifically assaults. That sub-category — which includes sexual assaults, common, with a weapon, aggravated and against police — showed that from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, there had allegedly been 329 assaults, compared to 64 year-to-date (YTD) in 2023, an alleged jump of 414.1 per cent.
In comparison, in October, there had been 305 assaults versus 342 in October 2023, a decrease of 10.8 per cent.
Overall, in November, the crimes against the person category allegedly saw a year-over-year (YoY) decrease of 4.2 per cent, while crimes against property allegedly fell 23.2 per cent YoY.
The police service did not notice anything unusual with October’s data, which saw a decrease of 1.2 per cent for crimes against the person and a decrease of 24.9 per cent for crimes against property, Johns said.
However, calls for service data are likely accurate and sat at 18,977 calls by Nov. 30, which was a YoY increase of 4.1 per cent, he continued. The agency expects to receive more than 20,000 by the end of 2024.
“We will provide a more accurate snapshot of the statistical extract at the next meeting,” Johns said. “Unfortunately, our analyst — once this report was created — was then away and unable to make the corrections necessary to make sure certain numbers aligned … .
“It will be quite a good reflection with the next one because we will be closing out the end of the year at the next meeting,” he added.
Impaired driving numbers decreased year-over-year in November from 92 to 83, a drop of 9.8 per cent, said Commissioner Dawn Luhning. She wondered if the police planned to conduct a Christmas season blitz to check for more impaired motorists.
The police service began its roadside checkstops on Dec. 6 and will continue through the festive season and into the new year, said Johns. The agency — led by Sgt. Ryan Lawrence in the community safety branch — is working with SGI and MADD Canada on the “positive ticketing program” that sees motorists rewarded for driving safely.
The deputy chief noted that checkstops will spring up throughout the city unannounced or with little warning, but residents will see these high-visibility activities when they come across them.
“(This is) highly important. We want to make sure everybody is safe through the holiday season, that they’re driving responsibly (and) not putting themselves at risk of injury in an accident … ,” Johns added.
Commissioner Jamey Logan said he went through the first checkstop and joked that he passed all tests “with flying colours.” Since he was driving safely, police gave him a Tim Hortons gift card as part of the positive ticketing initiative.
“Good on the force for doing that,” he added.
The next police board meeting is Wednesday, Jan. 8.
