OPP gains traffic unit

During a quarterly police services activity report to town council last night, local OPP detachment commander Insp. Dave Lucas said the district now has a district-wide full-time traffic enforcement unit.
Insp. Lucas said that as of the beginning of this month, two officers—Csts. Paul Davis and Pete Drouin—are dedicated to patrolling the district and mandated to carry out the detachment’s traffic safety plan for the entire Rainy River District, which focuses on impaired drivers, aggressive drivers and seatbelt compliance.
“The whole district is their area of jurisdiction, but the unit is going to focus on traffic safety hot spots—that being Highway 11 throughout the whole district, Highway 71, and also in the more populated areas, like the Town of Fort Frances,” Insp. Lucas explained.
“They’ll be concentrating on intersections, school zones, safety zones,” he added. “These officers are totally dedicated to traffic.”
Insp. Lucas noted the officers also will be responsible for enforcing marine and snowmachine traffic at certain times of the year.
“It’s going to be an excellent enhancement to our traffic safety plan in the district,” he remarked.
Insp. Lucas also offered some statistics comparing the second quarter of 2007 to that of 2006:
In 2007, police responded to 1,111 calls for service, compared to 986 in 2006.
Sixty-nine of these were violent crimes, compared to 50 at this time last year. A total of 126 property crimes were reported, down slightly from 128 in 2006.
Ten drug-related crimes were reported in the second quarter of this year, down from 11 in 2006, while the number of impaired drivers charged was 11—up two from this time last year.
A total of 45 motor vehicle collisions were reported in the Town of Fort Frances, compared to 38 in 2006, while 113 Criminal Code charges were made in the second quarter of 2007, as opposed to 75 last year.
Four charges under the Controlled Drug and Substance Act were pressed in the second quarter of this year, down from 10 this time in 2006.
A total of 192 charges were made under the Highway Traffic Act in the second quarter of 2007, up from 149 in 2006.
A total of 59 charges were laid under the Liquor Licence Act this past quarter, compared to 56 at this time in 2006. Nine other miscellaneous provincial statute charges were laid in the past quarter, compared to just one in that period of 2006.
Three parking tickets were issued in the second quarter of both 2007 and 2006 while a total of seven bylaw infractions were reported in the second quarter of this year (compared to none in that time last year).
Revenues collected returnable to the municipality totalled $3,777—down from $4,669.90 in the second quarter of 2006.
The total hours of OPP service for the second quarter of 27 was 6,345, with 408 hours of overtime, compared to 9,218.5 hours in 2006, with 299 hours of overtime.
Insp. Lucas explained the difference in hours, noting that in the second quarter there’s been fewer personnel working. The force had three vacancies due to transfers and promotions, three members accommodated for modified duty, and three on medical or parental leave.
In September, the Fort Frances detachment has gotten two new recruits, and expecting another for Atikokan.
Insp. Lucas also noted the summertime “Lock It or Lose It” campaign wrapped up.
Student Dayton Brown patrolled the town with OPP officers and cadets on 88 separate sweeps in July and August, checking to see if vehicles and bicycles were secured.
Insp. Lucas said they checked 4,664 vehicles and found 640 to be unlocked. They checked 358 bicycles and found 233 of them to be unlocked.
“Unfortunately, people choose to victimize people by committing thefts, and we’re currently investigating those at all times,” he remarked.
“I just want to encourage everyone to lock their vehicles and bikes up to prevent these crimes of opportunity,” he stressed.
Insp. Lucas added that in August alone, the OPP received reports of 10 thefts of bicycles and five thefts from motor vehicles in Fort Frances alone.
Also at last night’s meeting, town council:
•received a presentation by Anthony Kadikoff and Bridgette Parker of the Northern Cancer Research Foundation;
•referred an advertising request from Lester Communications Inc., regarding the 45th anniversary of Bearskin Airlines, to the Administration and Finance executive committee for its recommendation;
•approved a joint request from CUPE Ontario and the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care to proclaim Oct. 24, 2007 as “Child Care worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day” in the Town of Fort Frances;
•passed a bylaw to authorize the signing of an agreement with Meghan Haehn as Public Sector Accounting Board project co-ordinator;
•received an invitation to the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame’s 26th-annual induction dinner ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 29 in Thunder Bay and decided to let former mayor Glenn Witherspoon, who already planned to attend, to represent the town;
•received an invitation to the Rainy River District Municipal Association meeting on Sept. 15 in Emo (Couns. John Albanese, Tannis Drysdale, Andrew Hallikas, Sharon Tibbs, and Rick Wiedenhoeft confirmed their attendance); and
•received an invitation to a dinner with Northwestern Ontario economic facilitator Dr. Robert Rosehart on Thursday, Sept. 13.