According to the latest local RCMP report, persons crime and motor vehicle thefts in Drayton Valley are on the rise when comparing the first two quarters of 2025 to those in 2024.
Specific offences seeing increases include assaults, criminal harassment, uttering threats and sexual assaults.
From January to the end of June this year, 68 assaults were reported, 30 more than the same period last year, representing a 79 per cent increase.
“Person crime is always challenging to get a hold of, but our assaults are quite up,” Staff Sargeant Ryan Hoetmer acknowledged. He added, “It’s not random assaults, these are all known assaults.”
There were 36 reported instances of criminal harassment compared to 22 last year, an increase of 64 per cent.
Incidents of uttering threats increased by 30 per cent compared to the same time last year, with 30 reported so far in 2025 compared to 23 in 2024.
There were also 14 sexual assaults reported in the first two quarters of 2025, compared to five in 2024.
With domestic challenges on the rise, Hoetmer noted that persons crime is difficult for RCMP to proactively target.
“The community does a lot of that work with their anger management courses and the different organizations out there that are working steadily on that. We’re going to keep monitoring that,” he said.
Also on the rise, motor vehicle thefts are a special concern, Hoetmer said.
There were 20 vehicle thefts reported in the first two quarters, a 43 per cent increase from the same point in 2024.
The bigger picture, however, shows an overall decrease of 57 per cent compared to 2021, which saw 46 vehicle thefts reported.
Regardless, Hoetmer commented, “We are getting hammered right now with motor vehicle thefts. So as a community, make sure you’re locking your doors and you’re tucking your vehicles away in a safe place. We have our crew working on it.”
Meantime, the most significant contributor to the RCMP workload and service calls was mental health calls, which Hoetmer said has been the case for the last two years.
He explained, only RCMP have jurisdiction to respond to calls falling under the Mental Health Act, even though they aren’t technically a policing issue. Legislation changes to include community peace officers under the act could be helpful in addressing this workload challenge, he suggested.
This report was presented to town council during its regularly scheduled meeting on Aug. 13.
(Drayton Valley RCMP/Town council agenda)
(Drayton Valley RCMP/Town council agenda)
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