Peace Regional RCMP were busy during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday.
Police opened 444 files from Dec. 10 to Jan. 2, Peace RCMP public information officer Const. Julie-Ann Strilaiff says.
Peace RCMP reported a higher number of traffic collisions for the time period, with 64 crashes, she says.
In addition, police responded to eight hit-and-run crashes, and nine abandoned vehicles in the ditch after collisions.
Constant cold temperatures around -20C – and colder – and snowy driving conditions over the month of December made travel challenging throughout northern Alberta.
“The most significant traffic issues revolved around collisions due to the snow conditions, ruts on main roads and vehicles being sucked into the ditches when crossing the pavement line,” Strilaiff says.
Officers also issued traffic tickets for failing to stop at stop signs, driving carelessly, speeding, having tint on the windshield or two front windows, driving with no insurance or registration, as well as trespassing.
Police were pleased drinking and driving was not a significant concern.
“In general, there were few calls regarding impaired drivers,” Strilaiff says.
“It seemed most Christmas parties had back-up plans for getting their employees or guests home safe for the holidays.”
Police reported eight vehicles were stolen from Dec. 10 to Jan. 2.
“It could be more as some residents are snowbirding and may not yet know their vehicles are stolen,” Strilaiff says.
Nasty winter weather hampered other criminal activity over the holidays, she says.
“The cold weather prevented some crime as it was even too cold for typical break-and-enters,”Strilaiff says.
“Though it did not come to a halt, with three reports of break-and-enter to businesses and three reports of break-and-enter to residences in this time period.
“The snowfall made the most impact, creating complications for accessibility for emergency routes and access to dispatched locations.”
She reminds people to protect their residences and vehicles from criminal activity as the weather gets mild.
“Now that the weather is starting to warm up, we hope community members will keep their vehicles and homes locked up,” Strilaiff says.
“It takes only moments for someone to steal your vehicle and leaving your vehicle running runs a risk.
“We can’t always rely on the fob systems in newer vehicles and especially cannot rely on the fact that you’ve ‘never had an issue in the past or ‘only walked away for a minute’.”
Newer vehicles no longer have a key to start the vehicle, a fob system ignites vehicles, she says.
“So long as the key vehicle is within range of the vehicle – typically inside – then you can turn on the vehicle rather than inserting a key,” Strilaiff says.
“If a criminal is tech savvy, they can have blockers and receivers and can activate the vehicle’s fob system with just some electronics, so the vehicle thinks the key is inside, but it’s not.”
Fraud is another major issue for Peace RCMP.
Citizens continue to be falling victim to fraud, she says.
“RCMP remind community members that you will never be asked to pay your traffic ticket with gift cards or would owe gift cards to the government in any way,” Strilaiff says.
“You should not have to pay fines with gift cards or pay in advance to hold items on buy-and-sell groups with gift cards.”
Police also caution people about cryptocur- rency.
“If you don’t understand what you’re doing and you have someone on the phone convincing you that you can make money off crypto investments, stop and contact your bank or the RCMP.”
She says too many people across Canada have been victimized.
“We know hard-working Canadians have lost tens of thousands of dollars because they were convinced to invest in crypto,” Strilaiff says.
“Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” sh
Richard Froese
South Peace News