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.
Commentary by Jonathon Naylor There were a few (rumoured at least) break-ins in my usually quiet neighbourhood in 2012. From the sounds of it, it was mostly minor stuff _ an old lawnmower taken from a garage here and some loose change from an unlocked car there. We will have to wait six months before Statistics Canada releases the final figures on just how many break-ins, and other crimes, Flin Flon experienced in 2012. But we do know that break-and-enters were surprisingly high in 2011. Flin Flon's rate of 1,253 per 100,000 people was higher than both The Pas (1,164) and Thompson (568). In actual terms, Flin Flon had 75 reported break-and-enters versus 67 in The Pas and 84 in the much larger Thompson. Many people blame crimes like break-ins on alleged police lethargy. Nonsense. You could have a dozen patrols a day by your home or garage and probably never be so lucky as to have one coincide with a covert thief's mischief. I know some people still say Flin Flon is a place where you don't have to lock your door. Well, that type of naivety only invites trouble. Locked doors, motion lights, keeping appealing items away from any windows. These are common-sense measures we should all take. And with common sense, let's hope we can shed our 'break-in capital' title among northern Manitoba's three major centres.
