The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Flin Flon RCMP were forced to contend with a spike in rural crime last year. Crime in the detachment's rural region Ð which includes Cranberry Portage, Sherridon and the surrounding cottage areas Ð soared 34 per cent in 2010. Figures from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics show the region recorded 230 Criminal Code violations last year compared to 172 in 2009. Crime was up across most major categories, including violent crime, which surged 59 per cent (89 incidents compared to 56). Break and enters Break and enters nearly tripled (15 to 6) while minor assaults were up more than a third (48 to 35). Property crime increased 28 per cent (88 to 69) and mischief rose nearly a third (45 to 34). Motor vehicle thefts held steady (2 to 2) while non-vehicular thefts under $5,000 were essentially the same (21 to 20). Assaults with a weapon or causing bodily harm remained rare and basically unchanged as well (5 to 6). Incidents of disturbing the peace dropped modestly (23 to 27) while charges for marijuana possession were nearly cut in half (13 to 7). Police have previously advised caution in interpreting crime stats, pointing out that when relatively small numbers are involved, it takes only a few incidents to skew the overall data. Within Flin Flon city limits, crime dropped 12 per cent in 2010; in Creighton, it rose 28 per cent. Meanwhile, in the Creighton detachment's rural area, which includes Denare Beach, Sturgeon Landing and some of Highway 106, crime was up 21 per cent.
