Crime figures from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in St. Albert show more extortion, harassment and assaults

RCMP St. Albert crime statistics show a sharp increase in reports of harassment and extortion over the past five years and also in the first quarter of 2024.

The number of reported extortion cases increased 467 per cent from six cases in 2019 to 34 cases in 2023. The number of harassment cases doubled from 86 cases to 172 cases during the same period. In the first quarter of 2024, eight extortion cases were reported to the RCMP, while the RCMP has handled 49 harassment cases so far this year.

The increase is due to more reports of cyberbullying and harassment via social media platforms, as well as an increase in criminals encouraging their victims – often minors – to share nude photos that are later used for blackmail purposes, according to Sergeant Michael Beaudet of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in St. Albert.

“Enforcement is sometimes difficult because there is an online component and the suspects are often unknown or located abroad or outside the country,” Beaudet said.

The number of assault cases also increased in the first quarter of this year, rising from 88 cases at the beginning of 2023 to 106.

“Domestic violence could also play a role,” Beaudet said. “With many of our increased support systems and advertising campaigns, when you raise awareness of an issue, there is often a corresponding increase in reporting of an issue.”

In terms of property crime, the number of thefts, burglaries, fraud and property damage cases decreased in the first three months of 2024 compared to 2023.

Police conducted an operation earlier this year to identify idling and unlocked vehicles and warn owners of the risk of theft. This may have helped, Beaudet said.

The number of injuries from vehicle collisions has declined sharply since 2019, when 282 cases of injuries from motor vehicle collisions were recorded, and continued to decline until 2023, when there were only 103 such cases in St. Albert.

Beaudet attributed the decline to less dangerous road conditions in winter in recent years.

“Hopefully people’s driving skills and driving awareness have improved,” he said.

Reports of suspicious persons or vehicles almost doubled between 2019 and 2023, increasing from 470 to 906 cases. In the first quarter of 2024, there were 228 reports of suspicious persons, vehicles or objects, compared to 178 reports in the previous year.

“The vast majority of these cases are cases where citizens are calling people who seem suspicious to them, either in their neighborhood, in business districts or on the street,” Beaudet said. “Citizens are more vigilant and careful to look after their own property and the property of their neighbors.”

Since 2019, police have also filed significantly more Form 10 reports. A Form 10 allows police to arrest someone who is suffering from a mental disorder and may be at risk of harm to themselves or others and take the person to hospital for medical examination.

In 2019, the police filed 24 reports on Form 10, compared to 97 last year.

“Many more people are paying attention to their loved ones and co-workers and looking for signs of mental health crises or mental illness, and they are reporting them to us,” Beaudet said. “Not all of these cases resulted in a concern about mental health issues, and in many cases they were simply welfare checks.”

The number of drug trafficking cases fell from 61 in 2019 to 29 in 2023. gazette has requested further information on the decline but did not receive a response from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Drug Enforcement Unit in St. Albert before press time.

For a detailed breakdown of St. Albert RCMP crime statistics, please see the City of St. Albert Police Committee meeting agenda.