Merritt RCMP’s second quarterly report for 2014 shows that springtime break and enter files from May and June were substantially higher this year compared to last year.
This past May saw 12 break and enters compared to just six in 2013. In June there were 11 break and enters while in June of 2013 there were only four.
Overall, break and enter cases saw a slight drop between the first quarter of 2014 and the second quarter. There were 28 break and enters between April and June while the period between January and March saw 34.
Commercial break and enter files more than doubled between quarters this year. There were four in the first quarter of 2014 and nine in the second quarter.
Thefts from vehicles were also much higher this spring than in the same period in 2013. Between April and June, there were 25 theft from motor vehicle files compared to eight in the same time period last year.
There were seven stolen vehicles in the second quarter, up from three in the first quarter.
In the area of impaired driving, a total of 29 drivers had their licences suspended for either 24 hours, three days, seven days or up to 30 days in the second quarter of 2014. The majority of these drivers were not from Merritt; eight of the charged were locals compared to 21 who were from outside Merritt. Those places include Lower Nicola, Quilchena, Spences Bridge, Douglas Lake, Mammette Lake, Allison Lake, the Lower Mainland, Kamloops, Salmon Arm, Cache Creek, Red Deer and Edmonton. There were 23 people who had their licences suspended in the first quarter of 2014.
Drunk in public files saw a big drop this spring compared to last. Last May, police accumulated 70 drunk in public files compared to 34 in May 2014. Last June, there were 77 drunk in public files and only 47 this June.
Police recorded a total of 113 drunk in public files from second quarter of 2014, up from 90 in the first quarter. However, that’s still well below the total of 191 drunk in public files during the second quarter of 2013.
Cases of assault and domestic disputes remain consistent in Merritt. Police responded to 42 cases of assault this past quarter compared to 44 in the first three months of the year.
Domestic disputes are up 11 between first and second quarters in 2014, with 52 cases this second quarter compared to 41 in the first. The second quarter of 2013 also saw 41 cases of domestic disputes.
Police responded to a total of 1,537 calls for service between April and June. There were 230 prisoners processed in that time.
Most of the cases noted in the general investigation section (GIS) surrounded drug trafficking in this quarterly report.
There were no major crimes reported to police this quarter, which led to more time spent investigating drug offences, the report stated.
In April, May and June, police seized $7,400 from drug traffickers in Merritt.
