Staff Sargeant Ron Poirier from the St. Pierre RCMP detachment joined Ritchot’s council virtually for their May 6 meeting to provide a lengthy report on crime stats for the first quarter of 2025.
Traffic enforcement has been down recently, he said, due to the loss of three officers. MPI-sponsored traffic blitzes are also down, meaning that stats from this year may not fairly stack up to previous periods when enforcement has been in full swing.
Going forward, once fully staffed again, Poirier hopes to challenge all his staff to include traffic enforcement in their daily duties rather than relying on just a few staff to handle it.
“I would much prefer to see each one of my members participate on a daily basis rather than to just go and blitz certain areas,” Poirier said. “I think we get a much better impact in the community by having regular enforcement.”
In general, crimes against persons were down across the RM, although both Île-des-Chênes (IDC) and Grande Pointe saw a bit of an increase. IDC’s reports revolved around uttering threats and harassment, whereas Grande Pointe had a couple of incidents which were listed as assault causing bodily harm.
Property crimes were up slightly across the RM in terms of theft, mischief, and break and enter.
“We saw an increase in mischief with vehicles,” Poirier told council. “I don’t think it’s someone walking around damaging cars. I think it’s more someone trying to steal cars and they’re unsuccessful, so it gets reported as mischief.”
Looking back to last year, he says that incidents of violent crime were down in St. Adolphe. But they were up in IDC.
Poirier said that it’s not unusual to see a trend where specific types of crime shift from one community to another, yet he’s at a loss to explain why.
Council members weighed in, agreeing that there have been few public complaints about crime as of late.
For Councillor Janine Boulanger, however, there is one exception. She says that drag racing along Discovery Drive is back.
For Councillor Jason Bodnarchuk, seeing law enforcement vehicles along St. Adolphe’s Main Street on a more frequent basis has been a boon.
Councillor Joel Lemoine added that video surveillance in Ste. Agathe seems to be helping. Poirier said the RCMP were able to use some of that recorded video footage recently to intercept a crime.
When it comes to reporting crime, Poirier reminds residents that they can either call 911 or the St. Pierre detachment directly if an incident occurs during their open hours and if there isn’t any urgency.
Mayor Chris Ewen questioned Poirier on the jurisdiction of the Niverville-assigned officers once that detachment is open.
“If you have an incident in St. Adolphe and the nearest member’s in Niverville, the Niverville member will respond as the St. Pierre members make their way there,” Poirier said. “I see it as an enhancement because in the past we’d all be responding from St. Pierre. Now you’re going to have people to respond from Niverville, which shortens the response time.”