An OPP inspector is providing a glimpse into Penetanguishene's crime scene.
Speaking during this year's last Penetanguishene Police Services Board (PSB) meeting Monday, Inspector Joseph Evans gave a detailed presentation around the activities of officers in town.
"We did go up with one attempted murder in the summer," he said, talking about numbers from July until September. "We investigated immediately and had three people under arrest that are still in custody and the investigation is still ongoing."
Assaults, Evans said, are down but they're still a little higher than his liking.
"There's nothing we can do proactively; we react to those calls," he said.
Evans also talked about the increase in numbers for the category of theft under $5,000, along with fraud cases, which are being caused by the use of stolen credit cards.
"You'll see they've doubled over the last year in the same period," he said. "A lot of the issue there is that people are still not locking their cars at night. The fraud is related to the debit and credit cards that people can tap. And those are a lot of the calls we're getting."
Board member Thom Lackie asked about the service calls numbers, which the report showed had reduced in several billing categories.
"I'm just wondering, in the news you're hearing about the effects of COVID and that we're all stuck at homes and family units are stuck together and everybody is fighting," he said, "from what you say, it doesn't seem like it's happening here."
Evans said it was happening, but didn't offer an explanation for why service calls were down.
"We do have family disputes," he said. "During spring, our numbers were different from last year. At this time of year, I look at the shift briefings and I'm seeing that the calls for service are down. The officers are still finding work proactively, but the calls for service aren't showing up."
Lackie then asked about he effects of increased alcohol use as reported by the media.
"The news is saying there's so much more alcohol being sold but you're saying there's not much activity," he said.
Evans said he had heard the same, but it may be that people are drinking more in their homes.
"What I just showed you, there was eight impaired and that's not normal for a month," he said. "That's proactive work from the public calling it in. It helps us identify criminal activity and public safety risk."
Evans also talked about the 675 beach patrol hours in the Tiny beaches near Penetanguishene and along the town's shoreline.
"We did a lot of patrol in the beach areas because of the amount of alcohol that was being consumed illegally," he said, talking about the numbers from July till September. "Officers patrolled 10 hours for the beach areas and issued notices of violation for Liquor Licence Act. They go right from the boat to driving and the problem becomes bigger. We made sure to practise social distancing as much as possible."
Evans also referenced I Got Caught Wearing My Life Jacket program that, to him, was a success, however, he said, 22 out of the 24 drowning fatalities were because of peoplle not wearing a life jacket.
Overall, he said, the police relies on its interaction with the public to provide leads for cases.
"The more we can depend on the public to say something if they see something, the more it gives us the opportunity to correct the behaviour," said Evans.
