BATTLEFORD — Battlefords RCMP are urging the public to report all property crime offences, as they are concerned many are not reporting incidents.
Insp. Ryan How presented the town's quarterly report for January to March to Battleford town council at its meeting on June 15.
The report showed that property offences were down by 18 per cent to 50 for the period in 2026, compared with 61 for the same time last year.
Break and enters were down 77 per cent, with three reports for the period in 2026, compared with 13 for the same time last year.
Persons offences decreased by 29 per cent, with 22 reports for the period in 2026, compared with 31 for the same time in 2025.
How said overall it is good to see numbers go down, although he is cautiously optimistic.
"I'd love to take credit for seeing a reduction, but I think there's a lot of different factors at play here," he said. "I will say that having our staffing levels up and our amount of time being spent on doing some proactive patrols is helping. We know visibility is key, but we know that's not the only factor. So seeing a 29 per cent reduction in persons' offences is definitely good to see. But it's over the winter months too, and we know minus 40 [temperature] helps with that, so we can't take all the credit.
"Just a note on property crimes," How said. "We know they're not being reported to the police. So publicly, we're going to start a campaign to get online crime reporting out to the public."
Mayor Ames Leslie agrees.
"I think we're always apprehensive to celebrate when crime numbers are down, because is it just we're catching less or is there actually less crime?" he said. "I think that's kind of part of where Inspector How is coming from. Let's be apprehensively positive, but at the same time, we still ask the general public to report everything they do see that is not proper or things that shouldn't be in their community."
Leslie also mentioned there is some concern about homeless people in Battleford and wondered what could be done.
"It's just starting to pop up here and there," he said. "Individuals who are unhoused don't necessarily cause a big threat to your community, but at times, if we can reach out to our superior agencies, maybe there's some assistance that they need or may be able to receive before things get too bad. I just want to make sure that everybody has the ability to get the services they need."
