The Sundre RCMP detachment's commander recently told local municipal officials that the number of impaired driving charges dropped significantly last year.
"We actually had very few impaired driving charges in 2016 despite a lot of focused enforcement through regular patrols and checkstops during long weekends," said Sgt. Jim Lank, who attended council's April 18 workshop to outline his department's annual performance plan for 2017-18.
But before detailing the detachment's goals for the coming year, the sergeant also shared some crime statistics from the past couple of years.
There were just shy of 30 impaired driving investigations in 2016, but only 15 led to charges actually being laid, he said.
"That's very low, compared to previous years where we'd be looking at anywhere from 50 to 100, even four or five years ago. So I think that's a good reflection that society in general has a more responsible attitude towards impaired driving ó that's good to see."
The sergeant added the demographic most at risk of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol is actually adults aged about 35 or older, he said.
"It's no longer the youth that we might tend to think it is. It's the middle aged adult that's more prone to drink (or do drugs) and drive."
In 2016, the overall number of calls for service in the detachment's area ó which of course includes the Town of Sundre as well as portions of Clearwater County and Mountain View County ó was 3,631. That includes self-generated files from the department as well. Of all those calls, more than 1,900 were within the town, he said.
"That equates to about 44 per cent of our call volume."
There were also almost 1,200 calls for service in Mountain View County as well as about another 450 in Clearwater County. A very small portion of calls also came in from Red Deer County and Bighorn County, he said.
"It's probably like one per cent of all of our calls."
Comparing the number of calls only for the Town of Sundre from 2015 to 2016, the department received an increase of about 600 files, the sergeant said.
"In 2015, we had 1,315 files."
The biggest increase is attributed to property crimes such as break and enters, theft of property valued less than $500 as well as more than $5,000, and stolen motor vehicles, he said.
"Property crime is certainly staying fairly high, compared with a five-year average. Everything else has been fairly consistent across the board."
