Dryden Police Service/CKDR Archives
The Dryden Police Service has wrapped up another year of serving the community.
While most year end stats were relatively low or similar to previous years, there were a few that stood out.
Home Break and Enters in Dryden were up considerably in 2020 with 82, compared to 55 in 2019.
Dryden Police Chief Doug Palson.
“Unfortunately its a sign of the times, so to speak, and the socioeconomic and mental health and addictions issues tied together. Along with, it’s a direct off shoot of the methamphetamine problem and not just here, everybody recognizes that communities are experiencing this, most communities are.”
Another item of note, was impaired driving.
“Impaired driving is up, I think it’s somewhat consistent with some of the other communities across the province. Hard to say if it’s COVID related or not, people may be drinking a bit more. But I think it’s more likely enforcement related, we have a younger crew out there now that are assertive when it comes to enforcement.”
However, Palson says some stats were impacted by COVID-19, including calls for service.
“We were between 7 hundred and 8 hundred calls less than last year, that was kind of anticipated especially in the front end March, April, May and leveled out to be fairly consistent in the summer months. November and December with the COVID relate issues and restrictions in place, it’s less people moving around and overall less activity.”
Palson says there were a few stats lower than 2019 including business break and enters, thefts of motor vehicles, fraud, money seized and executed search warrants.
Liquor license incidents stayed the same and parking infractions were also down, as that responsibility as since been turned over to the City of Dryden.
