Some extra cash for police, number of break and enters down

There may soon be an opportunity to do some repairs at the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service building at 580 Second Line East.

City policy states no more than $750,000 may be kept in the Police Capital Reserve fund.

Over the past two years, that fund’s balance grew to over $843,000 as of Dec. 31, 2016 (not including an additional $165,000 allocated in 2017).

The Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Board approved a motion, at its meeting Thursday, to set up a new Police Contingency Reserve to hold any money over the $750,000 limit allowed in the Capital Reserve Fund.

The motion will have to be taken to the city’s finance department for presentation to city council.

So, what to do with that extra cash?

“The (Sault Ste. Marie Police Service) building is aged, it’s had an assessment done on it so there is certainly some consideration with regard to renovations, specifically the windows, they’re very outdated and very inefficient,” said Robert Keetch, Sault Ste. Marie Police Service chief, speaking to reporters Thursday.

There are, however, no firm plans for renovations at this point, Keetch said.

“These funds could potentially be used to pay for training opportunities, equipment purchases, building expenditures and professional services,” stated Keetch’s written report to the board.

There was also some good news and some concerning news arising from Sault Police crime statistics reported by Keetch at Thursday’s board meeting.

A police report shows Break and Enters were down in Jan. 2017 compared to Jan. 2016.

“From a positive perspective, I’m quite happy to see the number of break and enters down,” Keetch told the board.

Stats show break and enters were down by 39 per cent in Jan. 2017 (business break and enters down by 60 per cent, residential break and enters down by 27 per cent).

Keetch credited a new, specialized break and enter unit for their work.

“That’s a positive note, if there’s a negative note within the statistics, I would highlight the theft from vehicles, up 169 per cent (35 in Jan. 2017, compared to 13 last January) and that’s something that challenged the resources of the police but certainly the public has an opportunity in eliminating those,” Keetch told the board.

“Locking your vehicle and removing valuables from your vehicle tends to decrease the opportunity and impact those (theft from vehicle numbers) as well…we’re trying to educate the public on that.”

Also of concern is a big increase in fraud.

117 incidents of fraud were reported in Jan. 2017, as compared to 29 in Jan. 2016, an increase of 303 per cent.

“That’s a trend we’ve been seeing…there are new mechanisms of committing crime.  There’s telephone fraud, online fraud, identity fraud, all of those new crimes are occurring and some of them are within our jurisdiction, some of them are national or international.”

“They do impact our numbers,” Keetch said.