The Swift Current City RCMP addressed the rises and falls in the last quarter's policing report. 

Over the last year, and in the last quarter, the City RCMP have faced many struggles and challenges. Crime rates from January to March 2024 saw big increases compared to the same time last year. 

One of the biggest jumps was Provincial Traffic Offences, which ramped up from 353 in 2023, to 500 this year. 

Presenting the matter and discussing some of the more standout matters at Swift Current city council was Swift Current City RCMP Staff Seargent and Detachment Commander, Evan Gordon. 

Evan Gordon is joined by his fellow RCMP officer, Justin Rempel. Evan Gordon (no sunglasses) is joined by his fellow RCMP officer, Justin Rempel (sunglasses). 

One of the bigger highlights that was recognized was the success of the PACT program. This program sees PACT worker Karla Rempel working with the local RCMP through the program, tackling mental health issues. This last quarter alone saw 65 mental health act incidents, up from 52 the previous year. 

"We're continuing to see the impact of Karla with some of our repeat callers," said Gordon. "Folks that seem to be experiencing crisis on a little bit more frequent timeline. She has been able to provide some meaningful support and regularly link them with other meaningful supports." 

Assault, excluding sexual assault, was also up. This number sadly was up by 21 cases from last year, to 53. Gordon attributed the rise in this particular area not to an increase in offenders, but to an increase in visibility for victims in the system. Specifically, the ability to more accurately document cases of sextortion. 

"Our scoring system just hasn't been able to reflect that," said Gordon. "Those are areas that we do see in Swift Current, not necessarily involving people here as the perpetrator of that crime, but definitely victims of that crime. So, I believe that's likely one reason that we saw an increase."

Sexual offences were also much higher, at 16 incidents compared to five in 2023. 

And finally, one of the last things to see a significant shift was fraud. This number went up from 18 incidents to 38. 

It wasn't all bad though, as other numbers managed to recede from previous peaks. Hit and Run incidents had fallen to 17 from 24. Weapons offences dropped from four to only one reported incident. Residential break and enters were also down from 15 to five cases.