Despite the number of criminal case files staying steady overall in Keremeos in 2021, the number of violent crimes rose.
According to a report presented to the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen board on Feb. 3, the police detachment had 335 criminal code files for the year, compared to 339 in 2020.
The number of calls for service did go down on the other hand, from 1,577 in 2020 to 1,439 in 2021. Despite the pandemic hitting in 2020, the year had almost the same number of calls for service as 2019’s 1,558.
Violent crimes, though still the minority of crimes that the detachment handles, increased in 2021 while property crimes declined.
The largest increase in violent crime were assaults, which went from 35 calls to the RCMP in 2020 to 51 in 2021.
The number of cases of uttering threats were steady at 18 in 2021 compared to 17 in 2020, domestic violence cases increased slightly to 23 from 20. The number of sexual offences dropped into the single digits with nine calls compared to 10 in 2020.
READ MORE: Keremeos crime rate stays steady in volume but changes focus
Property crime saw a 12 per cent drop overall, with most categories seeing a reduction in the number of calls to the RCMP.
That drop was driven by a 26 per cent reduction in the number of mischief calls from 61 in 2020 to 45 in 2021 and a 37 per cent reduction in the number of thefts from vehicles from 38 in 2020 to 24 in 2021.
For property crimes, the only two categories to see increases were auto-thefts, which rose from 14 in 2020 to 21 in 2021, and thefts - other, which rose from 33 to 38 in 2021.
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