Fort St. John crime returns to ‘historical norm’: RCMP

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The Fort St. John RCMP says 2022 marked a return to a “historical norm” in crime statistics.

During a committee of the whole meeting on April 11th, Inspector Anthony Hanson of the Fort St. John RCMP told council that crime was up in 2022 compared to the previous two years. However, they were far from some of the historic highs the area had seen previously. 

Hanson told Energeticcity.ca last month that the detachment has seen a noticeable increase in crime after a two-and-a-half-year decrease, which he says was due to the pandemic.

“During COVID, anecdotally, we would average about 15 files per 12-hour shift. We’re doing 25 to 30 files now, but COVID was an outlier. We are still not as busy as this detachment was ten years ago,” Hanson said.

The detachment commander hypothesized that this increase might be due to energy projects in the area ramping back up after the pandemic.

One example of this trend was property crime. Police received 1,987 property crime-related calls in 2022.  This number is up from the 1,852 property crime-related calls the detachment received in 2021 but still low compared to the 2,374 calls in 2019. 

While property crime was shown to be down statistically in Fort St. John, the issues surrounding property crime and repeat offenders are a problem perceived by many across the Peace region. 

Common assault calls rose to 382 in 2022 compared to 374 in 2021— still lower than the 589 reported in 2018.

While many call types are returning to average rates, other areas, such as crimes related to violence in relationships, are hitting a five-year high. 

According to the detachment’s report, spousal assault (161), abuse (19), and dispute (233) in 2022 were the highest reported in five years. 

The report also stated the Fort St. John RCMP had received a total of 11,067 calls for service in 2022 — 8,507 within the municipality and 2,560 in the rural area. This is down compared to the 11,672 calls for service in 2021. 

Not all calls the RCMP responded to were related to crime, such as vehicle incidents, mental health situations, and bylaw infractions. 

Hanson also told council that the new RCMP building would be up and running roughly by the end of July 2023. 

The full 2022 Fort St. John RCMP report to council can be read below: 

With files from Spencer Hall, Energeticcity.ca