Rural residents of Dufferin County reported 6.8 per cent more occurrences to police last year. According to information recently released by the Dufferin OPP, more serious crimes were up, while theft and mischief were down.
“It’s fairly standard,” acting-Staff Sgt. Dave Quinton says of the overall increase. “Our occurrences usually go up by eight to 10 per cent a year and certainly at least half of them are going to be criminal occurrences.”
Dufferin OPP, which covers the Town of Mono as well as Amaranth, East Garafraxa, East Luther Grand Valley, Melancthon and Mulmur townships, responded to 6,573 occurrences in 2007, up 422 from the year before.
The increase is partically attributable to motor vehicle collisions (58), with significant hikes in the number of reported break-ins (23) and violent crimes (14).
“Basically the whole area has had an increase in break-and-enters,” Quinton says, suggesting the same is true for the Nottawasaga and Caledon detachments. “A lot of the (break-and-enters), especially last year, were to garages and sheds. On many occasions there wasn’t anything stolen.”
Of the 852 motor vehicle collisions last year — an 11 per cent jump over 2006 — 23 were alcohol-related and six resulted in fatalities. Officers also handed out 5,173 Provincial Offences Act notices — most for traffic infractions — and spoke with more than 17,000 drivers during RIDE spot checks.
The RIDE program resulted in 63 roadside breath tests; 13 people were charged with impaired driving, 22 were given a 12-hour driver’s licence suspension after blowing a warn, and 10 had their licence suspended for 90 days.
The longer suspensions are immediately applied when a person either refuses to provide a breath sample or is charged with both impaired driving and driving with more than 80 mg of alcohol in 100 mL of blood, Quinton explains.
On the upside, Dufferin OPP took five fewer reports of theft (147 total) and mischief calls dropped by 26 (121 total). Theft reports were down in every municipality except Mulmur, which saw an increase of four.
Three municipalities saw a drop in reported mischief, while one remained unchanged and two experienced an increase.
“We really stress community involvement. If you see something suspicious, call the police rather than waiting and calling a week later,” Quinton says. “If it is something of a major concern, call us right away.
“We’re only as good as the members of the public,” he adds. “If they can be a second (set of) eyes and ears for us, that’s all we can ask for.”

Crimes reported to Dufferin OPP in 2007:

Amaranth
• 15 break-and-enters, up 1
• 8 thefts, down 5
• 11 violent crimes, up 5
• 18 incidents of mischief, down 8
•111 motor vehicle collisions, down 2
• Cost of policing in 2007 — $310,644 (2.58 full-time equivalent officers)

East Garafraxa
• 14 break-and-enters, up 3
• 10 thefts, down 1
• 9 violet crimes, up 1
• 10 incidents of mischief, up 1
• 108 motor vehicle collisions, up 5
• Cost of policing in 2007 — $137,517 (1.32 FTE officers)


East Luther Grand Valley
• 11 break-and-enters, down 3
• 24 thefts, down 1
• 15 violent crimes, up 4
• 30 incidents of mischief, unchanged
• 57 motor vehicle collisions, up 11
• Cost of policing in 2007 — $188,252 (1.79 FTE officers)

Melancthon
• 22 break-and-enters, up 13
• 21 thefts, down 1
• 18 violent crimes, up 1
• 19 incidents of mischief, up 9
• 126 motor vehicle collisions, up 32
• Cost of policing in 2007 — $252,955 (2.35 FTE officers)

Mono
• 33 break-and-enters, up 12
• 64 thefts, down 1
• 33 violent crimes, down 2
• 27 incidents of mischief, down 21
• 248 motor vehicle collisions, down 5
• Cost of policing in 2007 — 863,775 (8.4 FTE officers)

Mulmur
• 15 break-and-enters, down 3
• 20 thefts, up 4
• 12 violent crimes, up 5
• 17 incidents of mischief, down 7
• 90 motor vehicle collisions, up 17
• Cost of policing in 2007 — $308,199 (2.79 FTE officers)