While the nature of calls continues to fluctuate, South Simcoe Police Service remains as busy as ever.
Deputy Chief Sheryl Sutton provided the monthly operational update for October during the police services board meeting at Innisfil Town Hall Nov. 22.
The operating report showed 2,535 total calls for service in October with 51.99 per cent in Bradford and 40.08 per cent in Innisfil.
“Patrol Zone E, which is the south side of Holland Street, was the busiest patrol zone for the month,” Sutton said.
The deputy chief noted calls for service were “up significantly” from 1,860 in October 2022. This continues the trend started in July of calls for service being down slightly compared to the same time in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, which saw 2,643 calls that October.
Sutton explained 2019 had previously been “the only outlier year,” but noted there were still two months left in 2023.
“I don’t know that we’ll hit 2019 calls for service, but it will certainly be close,” she said.
Up to the end of October, 2023 has seen 25,844 calls for service, compared to 25,594 in the same time in 2019, which ultimately had 29,738 by the end of that year.
Only 56 of this October’s calls for service were deemed to be the highest priority.
There were some areas in which calls increased in October 2023 compared to October 2022, including:
- Provincial offence notices jumped to 477 from 162
- Break and enters increased to 17 from seven
- Frauds rose to 29 from 16
- Bylaw calls increased to 22 from 13
- Assaults climbed from 18 to 11
However, there were other areas in which calls decreased in October 2023 compared to October 2022, including:
- Vehicles stolen dropped to seven from 15
- Thefts from vehicles declined to 14 from 18
- Domestic calls decreased to 60 from 75
- Impaired calls declined to 19 from 23
Seeing the decrease in reported domestic incidents, Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin asked about the statistics surrounding intimate partner violence (IPV), noting that many municipalities across Canada have declared the issue an epidemic.
“We have not done, because I’m always saying, ‘If you’re going to declare something an emergency, you better have some actions attached to it,’” she said.
Chief John Van Dyke said incidents tend to fluctuate cyclically, and even though numbers are down compared to the same month last year, “they are high.”
“We do get a lot of domestics in a year,” he said. “But they haven’t really gotten worse in the last couple of years.”
Board chair Chris Gariepy said the statistics on the issue could be made available to the mayors for review outside of the board meeting, and Bradford Mayor James Leduc agreed they could decide later whether or not to bring it up in the future.
Ten months into 2023, the service had issued 4,567 provincial offence notices — many related to traffic. That's more than the 4,150 issued in all of 2022.
Unlike at some recent meetings, Sutton did not present a breakdown of how many people were caught speeding by warning cameras and by how much, because part way through the month, the camera in Bradford was moved from Simcoe Road to Professor Day Drive.
The camera in Innisfil continues to suffer from technical difficulties, and Dollin explained it had to do with a bad battery, adding that with the town closing in on the switch to an automated speed enforcement program, they weren’t sure it was worth investing in upgrading the old equipment.
October saw 164 motor vehicle collisions, with 81 in Bradford and 83 Innisfil. Out of all of those, 118 resulted in property damage and 22 led to injuries, but none were fatal.
Common locations for collisions in Innisfil included County Road 89 at Yonge Street, and Innisfil Beach Road at Webster Boulevard; in Bradford the list included County Road 88 at Highway 400, Holland Street and Canal Road.
The total number of fatal collisions sits at five so far this year, with three in Bradford and two in Innisfil.
Crisis calls were up again, with 55 in October compared to 40 in September, with 13 of October’s calls handled by the Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COAST) and 42 taken by front-line officers.
Sutton had previously explained the issue came down to timing, with many crisis calls coming in when crisis workers weren’t available, and gave examples such as 11 p.m., 1 a.m., 3 a.m. and on weekends.
To help address that issue, the province announced $117,865 in funding through the Mobile Crisis Response Team Enhancement (MCRT) grant on Oct. 27, and Sutton is hopeful that will allow partners at the Canadian Mental Health Association Simcoe County branch and Your Support Services Network to fund extended hours for crisis workers.
