Creston RCMP saw a increase in violent crimes in its first quarter of 2025, which Staff Sgt. Brandon Buliziuk says could be contributing to officer burnout.
The detachment responded to 1,042 calls for service in its first quarter: 547 of which were within the municipal boundary and 495 within the rural provincial area.
Violent offences saw an 11 per cent increase on the municipal side this quarter and a 7 per cent increase rurally, an upward trend from the same time last year.
“Some of that can be attributed to higher reporting levels than in the past, but it can also be attributed to a rise in that type of crime,” said Buliziuk.
Creston RCMP has faced particular challenges with more serious offences in the current bail system, where Buliziuk says the detachment seldom sees offenders incarcerated for periods of time.
“It’s frequently just some paperwork and a release, more often than not, and then us just dropping back into that cycle of having to address that offender’s behaviour going forward. Again, that’s not a slight against the system whatsoever, just the fact that we’ve observed.”
That said, the detachment has seen a spike in offenders charged with breaching conditions, which Buliziuk notes is a welcomed increase.
“That’s actually good, because what that means is that we are successfully prosecuting our accused, who are then being released back into the community on conditions. And because of our close observations of them, we’re able to breach them under conditions when they’re not complying, which drives that number up. It shows there’s good police work going on.”
He adds that the provincial bail system has also forced the detachment to stretch its resources, explaining how the province’s Virtual Bail Hub effectively eliminated the days when BC sheriffs were in charge of transporting offenders to a sheriff holding facility and then to physical court.
“That doesn’t happen anymore. Now it’s on us, and I find the process is consuming a lot of time. It hurts us because when we are awaiting a bail process to happen, especially if it’s a violent offender, say I have two officers who are working—they’re not out on the road—they’re waiting for the phone to ring so they can facilitate the bailing.”
The police force is currently staffed with 12 out of 13 officers, but Buliziuk warns that his officers are starting to burn out.
“We’re definitely starting to run into the fatigue factor with our frontline membership. They’ve worked tremendously hard to keep those numbers down, but that comes at a cost with the resources we have here. And we’re now starting to be at a point where I need to shift some of my initiatives towards resting our members as well.”
Buliziuk says a focus for 2025 is shifting initiatives towards resting officers, noting that only one officer used their vacation allotment last year.
“So, that’s a problem for me. It’s something that I’m going to have to focus on by thinning out some areas of service delivery in order to rest people before that burnout phase.”
Be the first to know! Don’t miss out on breaking news and daily updates in your area. Sign up to MyCrestonNowNews Alerts.
