By Colin Smith
The Morinville RCMP Detachment has had a break in the case of the St. Jean Baptiste Church arson fire.
According to Staff Sergeant Darcy McGunigal, detachment commander, officers investigating the 2021 fire have recently spoken with two witnesses.
“We will be putting out a press release with the aim of confirming the identification of three suspects,” he stated at the regular meeting of town council Tuesday.
McGunigal conveyed the information during discussion of the detachment’s second quarter Community Policing Report, in response to a question about the fire investigation from Councillor Ray White.
Other developments mentioned by McGunigal include the deployment by the RCMP of two new remotely piloted aircraft systems, commonly known as drones, in Morinville.
“It’s a great thing,” he said. “We have it right here at the detachment. If we need it, it’s in the air.”
The drones have been used on ten occasions since their arrival, some of them in neighbouring municipalities.
Statistics in the policing report indicated that crimes against persons in Morinville were down by 25% in the period July 1 to September 30 of this year compared to the same quarter in 2023, while property crimes increased by 19% and other criminal code offences were up by 13%.
During this period there were a total of 36 persons crimes, compared to 48 the previous year.
These included one robbery, seven cases of criminal harassment and six of uttering threats.
The number of sexual assaults decreased to three from eight, and there was one other sexual offence rather than the five of 2023.
Assault was the only persons crime category that recorded an increase, from 15 to 18.
As has been the case at least since 2020, there were no offences related to death. There were also no kidnapping/hostage/abduction or extortion cases.
The July to September period saw a total of 114 property crimes, up from 96 last year.
Motor vehicle thefts climbed to 14 from 5, while break and enters dropped to 10 from 11.
“We are getting to work on that,” McGunigal said in regard to the rise in vehicle thefts, adding that one young offender has been
Incidents of mischief jumped from 41 to 58.
There was one case of theft over $5,000 and 15 of theft under $15,000, nine fraud cases and seven of possession of stolen goods. There were no incidents of arson.
Morinville RCMP dealt with 51 other criminal code offences including one offensive weapons charge, disturbing the peace and failing to comply and breaches. There were two drug trafficking cases.
There were 185 provincial law violations, including six under the Liquor Act, one under the Cannabis Act, 19 under the Mental Health Act and 120 traffic violations.
There were 22 incidents involving municipal bylaws and two of municipal traffic bylaws.
The detachment handled 29 motor vehicle collisions during the quarter.
