Editor's Note: The following report was delivered by RCMP Sgt. Stuart Seib to District of Clearwater council Tuesday July 12.
We start off the recap for the first half of 2011 on a good note. The traffic position that has sat empty for the past two years is now filled. Cst Jason Lunde moved to Clearwater this past week and started his first shift with us on Thursday, July 14. He is a five-year member who transferred out of Prince Rupert with his wife and seven-month-old son. This position getting filled was due to the efforts of District of Clearwater along with the help of (TNRD Wells Gray Country director) Tim Pennell and (TNRD Thompson Headwaters director) Max Lentz. All of the other traffic positions that were blocked remain vacant. This is the only one that has been filled. We thank you and appreciate the support.
Call volume remains same
Clearwater Detachment is right on par with call volume this year, responding to just under 900 calls for service for the first half of 2011. Approximately 400 of these were in Clearwater. (45 per cent). These include a wide variety of calls ranging from nuisance calls such as loud parties and barking dogs, to serious calls including break-ins and assaults. We have seen an increase this year to our theft complaints (vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and homes). At that same time we have seen quite an influx of parolees moving to Clearwater after serving their time in jail and getting release on various conditions. Just a coincidence?
As always we continue to be strategically focused. For the year 2011, RCMP continue to focus on organized crime, and traffic safety in the entire detachment area, and increased police presence in the Avola / Blue River areas.
Organized crime is first priority
The first priority the Clearwater Detachment is focusing on is combating organized crime in our area. This includes targeting marihuana grow operations and drug traffickers. After taking down 78 grows in the past five years, they are becoming harder to locate. It would appear that in many cases growers are moving elsewhere as the chances of getting caught in Clearwater are high. Of note, charges have been forwarded on 48 individuals for a variety of charges stemming from these grow-operations. They include possession with the purpose of trafficking, possession, firearms charges, and theft of Hydro. We have only lost one court case.
So far only two indoor grows have been taken down in 2011, with a total of 3,330 plants being destroyed.
The following is a recap of drugs seized in our area in the first six months of 2011:
• 19 drug busts (including the two grows)
• 3,330 marihuana plants
• 23.04 kg of pot
• 15 gm of magic mushrooms
• two rifles, one Taser, one set of brass knuckles
• A five-ton cube van with a large generator built into the back, a Polaris RUV, and a F350 with two tidy tanks in the back.
The street value of these seizures exceeds $3,380,000.
Lawbreakers forfeit cash
Two court cases that wrapped up in the past two weeks are worth touching on.
The first was a large grow-operation taken from a property on Candle Creek Road. The male, Jean Busque received 16 months in jail and his common law wife, Christine Quirion got an 18-month conditional sentence order with house arrest for the first six months. They were ordered to pay back thousands of dollars for stolen hydro and also ordered to pay $125,000 from the equity of the home as part of the penalty. Crown has appealed the cash amount, stating that the entire property should be forfeited.
The second case involved Tony Tran. He was stopped at a road check two years ago and $430,000 cash was seized from his vehicle under proceeds of crime. A judge just ruled that all cash be forfeited to the Receiver General.
Cutting back unsafe driving
A second priority that both General Duty and Traffic Services has focused on in an effort to reduce carnage on our highways, is that of targeting drinking and driving and aggressive driving.
For the first half of the year there has been zero fatalities, 14 injury crashes, and 52 property damage crashes (total of 64 crashes attended to date). This is close to on par with last year were we attended one fatal, six injury crashes and 52 property damage crashes for a total of 59 crashes.
There have been nine impaired driving charges and 16 - 24 hours suspensions handed out so far this year, compared to three impaired charges and seven 24-hour suspensions last year.
Once again, there is zero tolerance for drinking and driving in our area. If a person is over the legal per se limit, they will be charged.
- Sgt. Stu Seib is the NCO-in-charge at Clearwater RCMP Detachment
