Creston RCMP numbers are showing a slight decline in calls for service this year.
Mayor Arnold DeBoon says the crime rate has been reduced by about 30 per cent since the last report.
“In communities near our size and somewhat smaller, we have reduced crime by a higher percentage than any of those other communities. The Creston detachment is seeing unprecedented levels of success with our local prolific offender management program.”
DeBoon says part of that is due to the police force specifically targeting local groups that have been actively committing crime in the area for quite some time.
“They’ve managed to arrest and incarcerate some of the more serious offenders. Once they were out of our community, our crime rate went down. So that suggests to me that they got the right people and they’ve taken them out of our community.”
He adds that’s even more impressive considering the obstacles.
“They’ve been doing a very good job and they are a bit short-staffed. For them to have put this much effort into crime reduction and have that much success, it shows we have a very dedicated force here that is obviously working as an excellent team.”
DeBoon says there have been some difficulties with prolific offenders in the past that seem to have been partially solved.
“There has been sort of a revolving door of bail for people and the province has tightened that up somewhat. The RCMP, working in conjunction with them, has tightened that up so we don’t see quite as many quick releases of offenders on bail.”
Overall, he had nothing but good things to say about Creston’s RCMP force.
“I was impressed when I saw those statistics, and I think it just bears our community noting that we do have a very dedicated police force who are focusing their efforts on crime reduction and they’re having some success.”