Campbell River RCMP see highest service calls in a decade

Calls for service to the Campbell River RCMP detachment were the highest they've ever been since the detachment changed to its "modern reporting systems" roughly a decade ago.

Last year, the detachment received 17,588 calls for service, up 4.8 per cent compared to the 16,782 calls received in 2020.

Campbell River RCMP say the most common calls were for wellness checks, followed by traffic complaints, disturbances – such as fights in progress or screaming in public – and calls for unwanted persons refusing to leave areas.

UNUSUAL CALLS

Some of the detachment's most interesting calls of the year ranged from serious to humorous.

Mounties note that on Aug. 28, an officer was conducting a wellness check, which included driving a woman and her puppy home.

When the woman was getting to her front door, police say a raccoon dropped from her roof and began attacking her dog.

"The constable on scene pulled out his baton and delivered three quick strikes to the furry creature's noggin and it went scurrying back up onto the roof," said RCMP in a release Monday.

The raccoon fled the area and the woman and dog were left unharmed, police said.

A more serious call Campbell River RCMP responded to last year included a man allegedly stabbing a store security guard on Dec. 7.

He was arrested Dec. 10 and released on conditions, but was found breaching those conditions and reportedly assaulting a police officer one day later. He was arrested and remained in police custody Monday.

As of Jan. 21, Campbell River RCMP say the number of calls for service have been similar to the number received in the early days of 2021.

"It is a hope that COVID concerns will start to decrease and masks can come off again enabling the easier identification of criminals in the community as they ply their trade," said the Mounties.

"More and more arrests are being made of those who seek to steal from commercial locations as criminals have become emboldened by the belief that they cannot be identified," said the detachment. "Many of those individuals will finally see the inside of court rooms in the coming year."

Police are reminding residents that crimes or suspicious occurrences can be reported to the Campbell River RCMP detachment at 250-286-6221.