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Calls to Bowen RCMP down 10 per cent in 2020, mental health flags on the rise in recent years

Highlights from Bowen RCMP's report to council last week
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Bowen Island RCMP gave a year-end report to council last week. (Photo: file)

Cpl. Adam Koehle of Bowen Island RCMP presented the year-end report for the island’s detachment, including statistics, at Bowen Island Municipality’s May 10 council meeting. Here are some highlights:

Canada Border Services has been on Bowen quite a bit for COVID enforcement, said Koehle. There have been a number of U.S. vessels in the area and RCMP have checked several U.S. or dual citizens, who’ve come to Bowen, for compliance with the quarantine act, he said in an email later. (Some homeowners, some visitors.) Most people complied but there was one ticket issued for non-compliance, he said. 

In 2019, the RCMP statistics reporting changed in the definition of “founded,” affecting how many assaults, sexual assaults and uttering threats are included in the stats. “Founded” now includes incidents where police determine a reported incident took place or where they found no credible evidence confirming the incident didn’t happen.

Bowen had two sexual assaults in 2020 reported in statistics, down from three in 2019. There was one “founded” sexual assault in each of 2017 and 2018 (pre-statistic change). 

Domestic violence flags were stable in 2020 – six – the same as 2019. This is down from a peak in 2016 when statistics show 11 domestic violence flags. 

Between 2018 and 2019 mental health flags jumped from 24 to 44. In 2020, there were 43 mental health flags. “It’s been predominantly teens that I’ve noticed having significant mental health issues and requiring treatment,” Koehle said at the meeting. “That’s anecdotal. I don’t have statistics based on the age of the people and it’s just what we’ve seen locally. But there has been an increase due to the pandemic and due to some of the challenges associated to it.”

Koehle estimated – in an email to the Undercurrent –  that half to two-thirds of the 43 flags in 2020 involved teens. 

Assault reports have trended downward since 2016 – despite the “founded” change – with 14 reported in 2016 and eight reported in 2020. 

Mischief to property and theft were down by more than half from 2019 (30 to 14 for mischief; 13 to five for theft). But, fraud rose from four to 13. There’s a huge increase in telephone fraud, said Koehle. “Those scams don’t seem to be going away.” 

While bike theft appears up in the statistics (four), two of those bikes were returned, said Koehle at the meeting. 

While other jurisdictions saw significant drops in call volume due to COVID-19, Bowen only had a 10 per cent drop in calls for service last year, despite the lack of visitors, said Koehle. 

There were 45 charges laid in 2020, 27 charges in 2019, 59 in 2018 and a drop-off to 14 in 2017 and 13 in 2016. Koehle puts the increase in charges down to “diligent policework” rather than an increase in crime. 

Read the entire report online.