Reported crimes in the jurisdiction of the Peterborough Police Service increased 13.4 per cent in 2022, according to the service’s annual report.
The extensive report outlines the service’s operations in 2022 within its jurisdiction, which includes the city of Peterborough, the village of Lakefield and Cavan-Monaghan Township — a combined population of more than 96,600.
The report notes that in 2022, there were 6,554 crimes reported, up from 5,777 reported in 2021 — a 13.4 per cent difference.
However, there was a 12.9 per cent decrease in criminal clearance rate at 37.2 per cent in 2022, down from 42.7 per cent a year earlier.
“While the total number of calls for service has gone down, criminal occurrences have gone up and that drives a tremendous amount of work for officers in the organization,” said police chief Stuart Betts.
The police service reports that in 2022 there were 38,368 reported violations requiring a response — down 7.7 per cent from the 42,173 violations in 2021 but on par with 2020. However, over the past five years, police responses have increased by 16.3 per cent.
Among criminal activity in 2022, robberies jumped 14 per cent, with 64 incidents reported — three of them involving a firearm.
Incidents of arson jumped 112.5 per cent, with 17 incidents in 2022, up from eight in 2021.
Fraud (632 incidents), motor vehicle thefts (147 incidents), thefts from vehicles (732 incidents) and break and enters (362 incidents) were among crimes that were on the rise in 2022.
Betts says some investigations are becoming more complex, requiring additional resources. Increases in some cases could be linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We tended to see more property crimes in that particular time because there were less people around on our streets,” he said. “Now we have people engaging with each other again and that’s related, I’m sure, to an increase in some of our people crimes.”
Firearm incidents
The service’s major crime unit reported five shootings in 2022 with two fatalities and four injured victims. Three of the shootings led to the arrest of five suspects last year.
There were 10 firearm incidents, in which 24 firearms were seized, in 2022. Of note was the theft of a tractor trailer containing 3,400 firearms in February in which all but 13 guns were recovered. Initially, the police had reported 2,000 firearms were stolen.
Officers drew their firearms in 56 incidents in 2022, down from 70 in 2022. Stun guns were drawn 29 times in 2022 (down from 52 in 2021) and deployed six times (down from 12 in 2021).
Sudden deaths
The service reports responded to 199 sudden death calls in 2022 — up from 152 in 2021 (30.9 per cent increase). The service notes that in 2022 there were 42 suspected overdose deaths that were investigated as major cases.
“We have suspected deaths related to opioids,” said Betts. “But until we get a toxicology report back from the coroner’s officer, it’s difficult for us to fully attribute that to an actual opioid overdose.”
Drugs
Also in 2022, there were 42 drug overdose investigations — one of which led to a manslaughter and trafficking charge for a Toronto man.
In total, there were 52 calls for service for specific drugs in 2022 and the service’s drug unit issued 487 search warrants for drug-related investigations.
There were 25 drug-related arrests in 2022, down from 60 in 2021. Of the drugs seized, fentanyl jumped to 2,398 grams in 2022 from 189 grams the year prior.
There were 1,456 grams of cocaine seized last year, down from 3,056.5 grams in 2021.
“The service continues to see that cocaine and fentanyl are the highest quantity of drugs being sold in the area,” the report states.
Sexual assaults
Of the 170 reported sexual assaults in 2022, police laid 25 charges.
The service’s internet child exploitation (ICE) unit conducted 35 child pornography investigations in 2022.
Hate bias crimes
Hate bias crimes also remained on par, with 33 incidents reported in 2022, two more than were reported a year prior and down from 36 in 2020.
Of the 33 reports in 2022, 19 were deemed hate/bias crimes, while 14 were hate/bias incidents. There were 18 charges laid in 2022 and 13 incidents were deemed cleared or had mediation.
“These recorded incidents were motivated by race, religion and sexual identity,” police said.
Impaired driving
The service dealt with 94 incidents of impaired driving in 2022, on par with 2021, which had 92 incidents. Police checked 4,353 vehicles during Reduced Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) programs in 2022, up from 2,304 vehicle checks a year prior.
911 calls
The report notes there were 41,943 calls to 911 — up 8.3 per cent over 2021 — including 1,415 calls from Lakefield and 5,103 from Cavan-Monaghan. Approximately 55 per cent of the 911 calls were for police, 42 per cent for paramedics and three per cent for fire services.
There were nearly 6,000 no-answer calls, which are calls where the caller hangs up but a 911 operator is still required to call back.
Other stats
- Crisis negotiation: There were seven calls for service in 2022 — five were mental health-related, one was criminal in nature and the other was fictitious, the report notes. The service has six trained crisis negotiators.
- Canine unit: 975 calls for service in 2022 as the service’s three canines helped locate eight missing people and located weapons on eight incidents.
- Forensic services: In 2022 there were 492 forensic investigations, 14 firearm examinations, 1,181 videos extracted/processed (up 129 per cent) and 454 devices examined (up 35 per cent).
- Victim services: There were 2,414 incident reviews in 2022 (down from 2,612 in 2021), in which there were 228 victim impact statements (up from 183 in 2021). The victim services unit had 62 court accompaniments and 104 office interviews and provided its facility dog Pixie 68 times in 2022 (up from 50 in 2021).
- Court services: In 2022, there were 1,155 prisoners booked with 2,217 court briefs. There were 45 individual youths charged and 80 youth charges.
- Vehicles: The service purchased 16 vehicles in 2022 — half of them new, four used and two snowmobile/ATVs.
- Overtime: Front-line overtime costs in 2022 reached $554,391 — up 0.8 per cent over 2021. The service notes it’s the lowest percentage increase or decrease in the past five years.
Betts says the service will continue to request more staff as workloads increase.
“It’s challenging — as workload goes up and you don’t increase the number of people who can do it, something has to give,” he said. “So either we have to stop doing something or we have to not respond to something.”
The police chief says the data from the annual report will be used to guide policing strategies and identify trends.
— with files from Robert Lothian/Global News Peterborough
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