Traffic, drug awareness, aboriginal policing and youth remain high priorities for officers based at the Shawnigan Lake RCMP detachment at the turn of the new fiscal year.
But officers have seen some other trends that they'll be keeping an eye on in the coming year, too, according to detachment commander Sgt. Rob Webb.
Incidences of domestic violence are noticeably high.
“The past year we saw a significant rise unfortunately in domestic violence in our communities,” Webb said. “This typically trends upward during a recession and this past year has been no exception.”
Webb said victim service workers are helping to prevent these types of offences from re-occurring.
Also, by identifying and monitoring prolific offenders, police are ensuring property crime numbers are low.
Weapons-related issues, too, are also being worked on.
“West and South Shawnigan Lake continue to have problems with shots fired complaints and non-licenced vehicles,” Webb explained. “We are again working with the forest companies and other agencies to work on these areas.”
To learn about the various programs available in the South Cowi-chan area, citizens can visit community policing coordinator Julie Rosenthal at the South Cowichan Community Policing office at Mill Bay Centre. If you’d rather, give Rosenthal a call at 250-929-7222, or email the office at [email protected] or visit www.southcowichancommunitypolicing.ca online.
