OUTLOOK - Presenting an annual report to Outlook's town council recently was Sgt. Mark Langager of the Outlook RCMP, who went over the report's numbers and information with everyone and shed light on how Outlook is dealing with criminal activity.
With the fiscal report ending March 31, Langager provided insight to Council on a number of things related to the town itself.
The report shares that there were ten collisions in town, said to be up quite a bit from the previous year, but most of them were just fender bender incidents. A total of 100 traffic tickets were written, with Langager sharing that this sector is something that the RCMP hears a lot of opinion from the public.
As well, there were two impaired driving charges, and one dangerous driving charge.
Touching on some of the more serious offences, there were three extortion/sextortion investigations in town. There were also ten assaults and two assaults with a weapon, which was double the number from the year prior. Langager also touched on robbery incidents, sharing that there were seven break-and-enter incidents and eleven thefts.
"That's way too many break-and-enters in town," said Sgt. Langager. "The thefts, however, are down quite a bit, from almost 30 the year prior."
As well, the RCMP had 16 mischief calls, as well as eight fraud investigations, which doesn't include the typical phone scams that try to lure unsuspecting people in. There were also 19 suspicious people complaints, with Langager sharing that some of those turned out to be legitimate calls.
The sarge also shared that there was one child pornography charge, also touching on the two from the year prior. There were 28 charges related to failure to comply with release conditions, said to be up 55% from the previous year. This particular area is said to be one of the RCMP's policing priorities.
There were also 15 mental health calls, 59 false 9-1-1 calls, and 27 false alarm calls, which Sgt. Langager noted takes up a lot of the RCMP's time.
Mayor Maureen Weiterman asked about the false 9-1-1 calls, curious if they were prank calls or otherwise. Langager said that some were misdials, while others showed problems with the phone lines.
There were nine missing person incidents in town, five general assistance calls, and there were also five dangerous animal calls, with two of those resulting in charges laid.
Following the report, Sgt. Langager stated that everything was "pretty consistent" at the Outlook detachment and in line with the previous year and others before then.
Mayor Weiterman said she was surprised by the numbers of the report for a town of approximately 2300 people. Langager agreed, but noted that Outlook also has a positive reputation among other parts of Saskatchewan.
"It's one of the quietest and safest communities of this size in the province," replied Langager. "It doesn't seem like it (based on these numbers), but it is."
Touching on the depleted RCMP numbers that have affected the local area, namely the Elbow detachment with one officer, Langager noted that with the wide coverage area that Outlook and Elbow's officers patrol, a call to Tugaske would likely see officers gone for the whole shift.
Outlook's detachment has six police officers including Langager, with the five constables being Kyle Vye, Kirk Nattrass, Jesse Kimball, William Hines, and Fraser Cameron in Elbow. Langager shared that all the officers want to stay in Outlook and the local district area.
