Chatham-Kent police (CKPS) had another busy year dealing with crime, but some of it decreased in 2022.
The 2022 annual report from the Major Crime Section released on Wednesday showed murders went up by one to four, but attempted murders dropped significantly from 10 in 2021 to three last year.
Police also said reported robberies decreased from 42 to 28, while weapons offences decreased from 69 to 37 reported incidents.
The downward trend in residential and commercial break and enters continued, according to police, with residential break and enters remaining consistent but business break and enters decreasing from 305 to 263.
"CKPS has focused attention and resources on a small local group of known criminals as well as criminals who commit crimes in a number of municipalities. We work tirelessly with our neighbouring services to keep these individuals in check. These have and will have a positive effect in combating property crime in Chatham-Kent," said police.
The annual report also showed aggravated assaults increasing from five to nine, reported sexual assaults decreasing from 101 to 74, criminal harassment going from 116 to 130, and abduction doubling from seven to 14.
Police also reported the Drugs and Street Crimes Unit recovered over $224,000 in stolen property in 2022, double the previous year, and executed 35 search warrants, which resulted in over $330,000 in illicit drugs being seized and removed from local streets. By comparison, the unit recovered $11.5 million in 2020 and $18.6 million in 2021.
Police said methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, and a variety of other opioids continue to be the main drugs of choice.
The 2022 police statistics showed weapons investigations dropped from 69 to 37 and drug investigations went down from 224 to 152.
In 2022, police said officers responded to 1,487 incidents involving local youth, which is a 12.5 per cent decrease compared to 2021, but the majority of calls were non-criminal and do not end in criminal charges.
Police also reported the number of youth charged and the number of charges laid were about half compared to 2021. There were 35 youths charged with 77 criminal charges last year.
Police said a 17-year-old youth was charged with 2nd degree murder and officers also charged youths with assault, sexual assault, mischief, and sexual interference and threats.
The 2002 report also showed the Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) was deployed 218 times in 2022, an increase from 144 incidents in 2021. Police said 119 calls were weapons-related, double the previous year. CIRT officers also executed 14 high-risk warrants.
"The year was one of transition and difficulty as we continued to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic during the first quarter of the year and commenced our journey in returning to our new state of normal," said Police Chief Gary Conn. "Our community and our members showed true resiliency through these times of uncertainty. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the mental health, physical health and emotional health of many of our police and community members. There is no question that addictions, homelessness, poverty and mental illness have created a vulnerable population that law enforcement and the criminal justice system are not properly equipped to deal with however, we are often the only agency available to initially respond to these calls."
Chatham-Kent police have nearly 250 uniformed and civilian members.
