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Assaults up, public disorder down in January compared to 2020

Assault, domestic assaults and mischief complaints in Thompson were up substantially in the first month of 2021 compared to the same month one year ago, RCMP detachment officer-in-charge Insp.
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Assault, domestic assaults and mischief complaints in Thompson were up substantially in the first month of 2021 compared to the same month one year ago, RCMP detachment officer-in-charge Insp. Chris Hastie told the recreation and community services committee at their Feb. 16 meeting.

There were 116 assault complaints in January, 15 more than in the first month of 2020, as well as 25 domestic assaults, up seven from January of last year.

“There was a bit of a spike this weekend in assaults,” Hastie said, speaking a few days after COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were eased across the province. He said Thompson averages about one domestic assault call per day and that they are a priority call to which officers hope to respond to, ideally, within five minutes.

There were also 35 more mischief/other Criminal Code complaints this January than there were last year. Drug offences also went up by four, from 12 to 16.

Several categories of complaints that the RCMP report to the city were down this January from last year. There were 176 fewer public disorder calls, 111 fewer provincial traffic incidents, 91 fewer missing persons reports, 26 fewer theft complaints and 11 fewer traffic collisions.

Asked if the drop in the number of missing persons calls is related to the StreetReach program, Hastie said it plays a part.

‘We have to factor in the pandemic as well,” he said. “People aren’t moving around as much.”

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