BANFF – Banff RCMP is hosting a community meeting to hear from residents and businesses about public safety and policing priorities.
The meeting, third of its kind hosted by local RCMP in recent years, is set for Tuesday, April 30, from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Catharine Robb Whyte Building at 101 Bear St.
Sgt. Natalie Rice, supervisor and investigator at Banff RCMP, said input at the meeting will help shape the policing strategy, adding police want to hear from residents about policing and public safety.
“We’re letting the community know we’re here, we’re doing all these great things, but what else could we be doing,” said Sgt. Rice.
“We’re open to the feedback and suggestions of our community.”
The meeting is an opportunity for residents to learn about police priorities and crime statistics in Banff.
Other issues including community safety, fraud and cybercrime, sexualized violence, road safety, mental health, and emergency management, including evacuation planning, will also be discussed.
Members of YWCA Banff’s Harmony Project, Banff Bar Watch and the Town of Banff’s emergency and protective services, which work as close partners on many of these issues with the RCMP, will be available for questions.
Rice said the role RCMP play in certain mental health events will be highlighted.
“We’ll talk about how we assist people in crisis and how we facilitate response,” she said.
All residents and businesses are welcome and there is no registration required.
Community engagement with police was somewhat stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic, but these types of community meetings and the Coffee With a Cop program aim to address this.
“We’re trying to get traction back on that,” said Rice. “The engagement piece is very key.”
Crime statistics for 2023 provided by Banff RCMP earlier this year showed overall crime in Banff was trending downwards, including assaults and sexual violence crimes.
However, the statistics show sexual assaults from January to October 2023 were slightly above the traditional rate over the previous five years, but decreased by 35 percent to 15 reported sexual assaults in 2023 compared to the record high 23 in 2022.
Crimes against people were down three per cent last year to 182 from 187 in 2022, and decreased 13 per cent since 2019 from 209 to 182. The statistics showing the COVID-19 years of 2020-21 had significantly lower rates of offences than pre- or post-pandemic.
Assaults were down six per cent in 2023 compared to the year before from 122 to 115 and down 20 per cent since 2019 when there were 144 assaults. Harassment and threats remained close to pre-pandemic levels.
Property crimes were also significantly down by 21 per cent from 2022 to 2023 from 405 to 319 cases, and by 34 per cent compared to 2019 when there were 341 property crimes reported.
Within this general category, the statistics highlighted break-and-enter crimes were 17 per cent below the 2022 rate, from 23 to 19 cases, and 30 per cent below the 27 cases in 2019.
Thefts of vehicles declined by 86 per cent, and were deemed essentially a non-issue in 2023 with just two. Offences of theft under $5,000 declined by 25 per cent from 2019 from 146 to 109.
The only crime category that increased last year was fraud, up 10 per cent to 54 due to the higher reporting of phone and email scams.
Mischief, including vandalism, and thefts from vehicles are far below previous rates.
