Wellington County OPP detachment’s Acting Staff Sergeant, Mary Louise Kearns, was at council here to say crimes in Minto are no April Fool’s joke – even though her presentation was April 1.
“As most of you are aware, we’re in bit of a transition. We just recently lost our inspector of 10 years – Steve Walsh.” The detachment is in the process of finding a replacement.
“The closing of the competition was today … so hopefully April Fool’s will be no reflection of the next leader.”
She was hopeful by the end of May there will be a new inspector in place – and if one of the staff is successful in getting that position, there may be a new staff sergeant as well.
“We are continuing to work hard to make sure that the County of Wellington is a safe place to live and work in.”
As she had done in Wellington North a few weeks prior, Kearns presented Minto councillors with policing report.
“I’d call this our results driven policing report.”
Similar types of reports are being presented to each of the different municipalities within Wellington County. They include an overview of some of the occurrences.
She understood that while it is the Town of Minto, “in the policing world we break it down a little bit more.”
The report considers previous municipalities of Clifford, Harriston, Minto township and Palmerston.
Another category dealt with incidents on provincial highways.
In 2008, the number of calls went up by 399, to a total of 2,684 (including provincial highway offenses in Minto).
In showing the breakdown, Kearns said, “lovely Clifford went down in calls (254 to 233).”
Harriston, Minto Township, and Palmerston all went up in the number of calls – each between 50 to 70 calls per area.
The greatest increase was in Harriston, which had 752 calls in 2008 compared to 682 the previous year.
Incidents on provincial highways went down.
In terms of where Minto stands compared to other Wellington municipalities, Kearns said it is now in fourth place of seven municipalities. Overall Minto had just over 10% of the 22,586 occurrences in 2008.
In its number of calls, Minto lags behind Centre Wellington (6,236), Wellington North (3,313) and Guelph-Eramosa (3,035).
“Centre Wellington is always the area that seems to keep us the busiest, especially with Fergus being one of our busier areas.”
She noted that of the increases in 2008, Minto is not alone in the increase of crimes against persons, primarily the domestic violence calls.
However, she noted the positive aspect is that there are a numbered of partnered services to ensure victims get needed and ongoing support.
In terms of crimes against property, Kearns was uncertain if that was an economic trend.
“We are seeing a lot more mischief … across Wellington … as well as calls for break and enters.
“We are taking a proactive stance, in terms of targeting some of the areas being hit, ensuring there are more patrols, and well as having plainclothes officers are out and about at night to ensure that we can catch some of these people.
“I’m finding that when we are in uniform, often times it’s by chance that we catch them.”
She said liquor and drug offenses have gone up slightly.
She noted the great working relationship with the OPP’s drug enforcement section. It is stationed in Mount Forest.
“Palmerston has quite an effect with the meth [methamphetamine] trade right now.”
There has been quite a bit of work “to deal with the drug issues in the north end.”
While missing persons are up, Kearns said in most instances they are runaway youth, “and there’s been great success.”
Traffic complaints have gone down, as well as 9-1-1 calls. “Our police pursuits have gone up … As you are aware, it is not something we do as much anymore because of the safety of the residents.
“We do RIDE [spot] checks day and night, throughout the year.”
Though the public may be most aware of the Festive RIDE program, “It is something we try to do on a daily basis.”
Mayor David Anderson noted that he travels the area frequently and said the OPP, and, “You’re very visible in the community, and that’s a great asset to your force.
