Kingston police on budget and seeing a decrease in sexual assaults

Kingston police have seen a rise in assaults but sexual assaults are down from last year, according to the city’s police chief.

Antje McNeely told a meeting of the Kingston Police Services Board at police headquarters on Wednesday that sexual assaults are down 20 per cent from 2018.

“In 2018, there was a lot of reports and a lot of awareness with the respect to the #MeToo movement, which could have increased the amount of reports that we would be receiving last year versus what we’re seeing this year,” McNeely said. “It could have levelled off.”

In her update on the status of the city’s police force, McNeely said fraud-related crimes have risen and crimes against property, like break and enters, are down.

So far this year, officers have had to use force — draw a weapon and/or a taser — 17 times, she said.

McNeely told the board that some of these incidents involved people with weapons who were a threat to themselves or others.

“It really highlights the high-risk situations that our officers are involved in and the first-class training that they’re receiving and how they’re really following that,” she said.

A budget report also presented at Wednesday’s meeting showed that Kingston police currently have a surplus of $350,000 and expect to come in on budget again this year.

They do caution, though, that the second half of the year includes a number of large-scale events, such as Queen’s University move-in weekend, frosh week and homecoming weekend. Police say these events cost them thousands of dollars.

According to the budget report, St. Patrick’s Day this year cost Kingston police $40,000.

In recent years, Queen’s University has covered some of the cost of policing efforts for events near the university district, but there have been no talks about funding from the university for this year.

McNeely is hopeful, however, that the new University District Safety Initiative will help deter raucous street parties, as infractions now mean a court date rather than just a ticket.

She says she expects this will hold party-goers more accountable and make student neighbourhoods safer.

“Our program has been monitored by other agencies and municipalities and so it’ll be interesting to see if that’s something that will catch on,” McNeely said.

Based on the figures released to the police services board, the department will now determine which areas require more focus in the second half of the year. The increase in assaults will definitely be a subject of focus.