BATTLEFORD — Battlefords RCMP are reporting lower numbers in the crime statistics for the Town of Battleford, but say the numbers don't reflect the full picture.
Insp. Ryan How presented the statistics for the October to December 2025 period at council’s meeting on Feb. 2.
There was a total of 237 reports for the period in 2025 compared to 252 for the same time in 2024, a six per cent decrease.
Person offences decreased for the period by 19 per cent, while property offence reports went down by 45 per cent.
"There's a reduction in overall crime but the RCMP still has a lot of work to do," How said.
He noted one problem is that not everyone is reporting crime, but it's important they call it in when they have an incident, such as a property offence.
Mayor Ames Leslie agreed.
"I have a lot of respect for Inspector How," he said. "Whenever a report shows that crime is down, quite often people celebrate. I have to give respect to Inspector How to acknowledge the fact that are the numbers truly down or are residents just not reporting as much as we need them to? I believe we've had this discussion in this room multiple times. Regardless of how small and petty a crime is, we need people to call it in, even if they feel that nobody's listening, no one is going to get arrested."
As an example, Leslie said people may post on social media if they see suspected vehicle break-ins happening, but they need to call the RCMP instead.
Leslie noted it is good to see the overall numbers are trending downward.
"I'm just hoping that we start to see a trend month after quarter after quarter that these are staying the same way, then we'll start to believe it," he said.
Some of the numbers that saw an increase in the report were provincial traffic offence reports, which increased by 45 per cent. False alarms increased by 20 per cent.
During the meeting, council mentioned they were pleased to see an increased police presence in the town.
"I think it is definitely sending the message that whenever you see a branded vehicle inside your community, you don't want to be committing crimes," Leslie said. "Maybe it's more crime prevention than anything else. That has been council's ask to have more presence in the town."
