Assaults in Duncan for the first three months of the year saw a 14 per cent spike from the same period last year, according to the head of the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP.
But Staff-Sergeant Ken Beard cautioned Duncan’s city council while giving his quarterly report for January through to the end of March at its meeting on June 9 that while a 14 per cent increase in assaults in the city seems significant, the jump was just five assaults, which was an increase from 37 last year to 42 this year.
He said about half of the assaults were related to family violence, and about another 12 of them occurred in the downtown core area.
“Five of those involved staff or security, and that’s an important thing that I like to keep my eye on in regards as to who they involve because in every case where staff or security is involved in a confrontation with somebody downtown and if there’s enough evidence, charges are definitely filed and forwarded to the Crown for Crown’s consideration,” Beard said.
“In general, for the first three months of the year in the City of Duncan, the (crime) statistics were pretty static or trending downwards compared to last year, with the exception of assaults.”
Beard's quarterly report indicates some significant decreases in Duncan, including crimes against property which dropped 40 per cent, down from 158 to 95, mischief to property which saw a 31 per cent decrease, from 74 to 51, and crimes against businesses, which had a 69 per cent drop, from 16 to five.
Beard said that another area that the RCMP wanted to emphasis to council is the police presence in the troubled downtown corridor
“Last year, we worked on business engagement in that members we’re going to the business owners in the downtown corridor and talking to them about crime prevention designs for their businesses,” he said. “We want to continue doing that and we’re talking to them about shrubbery and lighting and music and that kind of thing, but we also want to ensure that our presence is generally visible so we’re combining that with our bike patrols and foot patrols into our plan for next year.”
Coun. Tom Duncan noted the large drop in crimes against businesses in the city and asked Beard if the RCMP knew why that is. Beard said that one of the reasons is because in many cases, the RCMP have been able to apprehend those that are responsible.
“So they have either left the area or they are in custody,” he said. “I think what we’re seeing there is a kind of a reflection in that three-month period of a movement of those involved in those activities away from the community.”
