SPORTS: DANCING ON ICE TO 80s CLASSICS /PAGE 17
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MERRITT HERALD FREE
THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2016 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
COP STATS
CITY BEAT
CRIME BY THE NUMBERS Police stats show consistencies, increases and drops in crimes, as well as where the police are strained
Director of recreation and facilities hired
Michael Potestio THE MERRITT HERALD
David Dyck THE MERRITT HERALD
Consistently high drunk in public files have been a strain on police resources, says RCMP staff Sgt. Sheila White. Three years worth of statistics show Merritt continues to deal with roughly the same amounts of assault and drunk in public files year after year. The stats also show recent drops in theft from vehicles and break and enters, but increase in vehicle thefts and domestic disputes. Files on people intoxicated in public have numbered well over 400 every year the past three years. Police accumulated 571 files for such offences in 2013, 448 in 2014 and 479 in 2015. White told the Herald that drunk in public files have been a drag on police operations, can overload cells at the detachment and take up a lot of time for police. “If we have an indication that they’re in medical distress, for example if they’ve taken drugs as well as alcohol or too much alcohol or they’ve fallen and hit their head, we get them assessed medically,” White said, noting that involves a lot of different resources. She said that in her opinion solving drunk in public issues are a community problem — not just a problem for police. “Unfortunately the police For all your landscaping needs call the professionals at
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100 75 50 25 Stolen vehicles Theft from vehicles Break and enter
2013
2014
2015
Number of individual case files on stolen vehicles, theft from vehicles and break and enters received by the Merritt RCMP over three consecutive years. Design by David Dyck
are left to deal with people that are drunk in public,” White said. “We incarcerate them until they’re sober, keep them safe and then we release them usually without any charges in the morning or in the day,” White said. She said prevention is something that should’t be left to the police. “I’m not saying that we can’t help or contribute in some
New
capacity, but the police generally deal with criminal acts, violations of provincial acts and things like that. This is not something that we have the capacity for or that we could do by ourselves,” White said. BY THE NUMBERS White told the Herald that the statistics on various types of crime helps the RCMP track
seasonal trends and issues that police can then target. “For example, theft from vehicles usually occur in the spring [and] summertime,” she said. White said these issues can be incorporated into the RCMP’s strategic plan for the coming year. Assault files is an area police have targeted, White noted.
See ‘Assault’ Page 8
The last open senior management position in city hall has been filled. As of May 2, Brad Gilbert will start his new job as director of recreation and facilities for the City of Merritt. Gilbert comes from Athabasca, Alberta, most recently as the general manager for the Athabasca Regional Multiplex Society. He comes equipped with a degree in physical education with a minor in business economics. “I’m a bit of a visionary — very creative,” he told the Herald in a phone interview. “Somebody who sees the potential and at the same time has the business acumen to put a plan together and see that vision through properly.” “He is passionate about delivering high Incoming director of recquality services, reation and facilities Brad monitoring for Gilbert. Submitted photo effectiveness, and analyzing cost recovery,” said Merritt CAO Shawn Boven in a press release. The role has been vacant since December of 2015, when Larry Plotnikoff left the position of leisure services manager following the release of an audit that faulted him for cost overruns for the multi-sport complex project. Gilbert said he was also looking forward to the mountain lifestyle here in the valley.
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