The number of calls to Wood Buffalo RCMP is down year-over-year.
Superintendent Lorna Dicks presented the detachment’s quarterly report to Wood Buffalo council on Tuesday.
From January 1 to September 30, RCMP have received around 26,000 calls which means they’re on pace for around a six per cent decrease from 2018.
Dicks says they’ve still received a wide-variety of calls.
“These calls include occurrences such as assault, drugs, property crimes, driving offences, frauds, and mental health calls.”
She adds the decrease is due to less personnel in their traffic unit, with multiple officers currently on parental-leave. This is expected to be fixed in the near future.
Meanwhile, the number of driving charges are on pace to beat last year’s totals.
“Traffic safety objectives for this year include a focus on impaired driving, distracted driving, and school zone safety,” added Dicks.
Distracted and impaired driving charges are close to passing last year’s numbers, currently sitting around 500 and 250 charges respectively.
School zone infractions are around two times less than 2018.
