MOOSE JAW — Freezing temperatures blanketed Moose Jaw for almost half of February, which may have contributed to a double-digit percentage decrease in crimes throughout the community, data shows.
The Moose Jaw Police Service presented the February crime statistics during the Board of Police Commissioners’ March 19 meeting.
The data showed that, overall, crimes against people declined 28.2 per cent year-over-year, while crimes against property decreased 48.4 per cent year-over-year.
The data for crimes against the person in February 2025 versus February 2024 showed:
- Homicide: 0 / 0
- Attempted murder: 0 / 1
- Assaults (sexual, common, with a weapon, aggravated, against police): 36 / 62
- Robbery: 0 / 3
- Total: 61 / 85, a decrease of 28.2 per cent
Data for crimes against property in February 2025 versus February 2024 showed:
- Break-ins (business, residence, other): 23 / 57
- Motor vehicle thefts: 4 / 13
- Thefts over $5,000: 2 / 5
- Thefts under $5,000: 60 / 113
- Arson: 2 / 0
- Mischief/property damage under $5,000: 25 / 35
- Total: 145 / 281, a decrease of 48.4 per cent
Data for other incidents in February 2025 versus February 2024 showed:
- Impaired driving: 8 / 15
- Failing to comply with court orders: 112 / 142
- Threats: 1 / 4
- Domestic disputes: 4 / 12
- Provincial liquor infractions: 14 / 11
- Vehicle collisions over $1,000: 61 / 65
- Summary offence tickets: 204 / 375
- Drugs (cocaine and other): 2 / 6
- Calls for service: 3,166 / 2,855, an increase of 10.9 per cent
It’s encouraging that the numbers declined, but the police service isn’t putting much weight into that just yet because the year is still young, said Acting Chief Rick Johns.
While crimes are trending down, the number of calls for service is trending up and keeping police members busy, he continued. Roughly 30 per cent of calls are crime-related, while the rest are about social disorders, such as people struggling to survive, arguments, or residents requiring someone to solve their issues.
“Although we have seen crimes against property and persons go down, we will continue to answer the needs of the community … on a day-to-day basis,” Johns said.
The monthly statistics don’t always reflect the activities of police officers, because members sometimes support people who are ill and require medical attention, the acting chief added. Addressing crime is a priority for the organization, but such incidents are only a portion of what it does.
The crime statistics report had a line item for automated speed enforcement (ASE) tickets but no data for February 2025, something a commissioner questioned.
In response, Johns said he spoke with an officer in the MJPS’s traffic section and learned the member is working with the province to acquire that data since the latter controls the cameras. Information for ASE tickets in February and March will be presented during the April police board meeting.
As for why most of the crime statistics declined in February, the acting chief said the agency has an analyst looking into those declines to identify trends. If there are trends, the police service could provide targeted enforcement in certain areas.
“It’s a bit of an arduous job (to create the stats reports) because it’s manually entered by our analyst, so they go through each category and they populate what you see here in this document,” Johns added. “… that also gives us a very close-to-real-time look at what we’ve seen.”
The next police board meeting is on Tuesday, April 8.
