The tight race in calls for service between the previous record year of 2019 and 2023 is officially over, with latter edging out just 132 more calls.
South Simcoe Police Service Deputy Chief Sheryl Sutton provided the monthly operational update for December during the Jan. 18 police services board meeting at the South Division station in Bradford.
The report showed an even 2,000 calls for service last month, an increase in the 1,894 calls in December 2022 and slightly more than the 1,954 calls in the most recent pre-COVID-19 pandemic year of 2019.
That year had previously been considered an outlier with 29,738 calls overall, but 2023 just upped the ante, ending with a total of 29,870.
“That is the most number of calls for service this police service has ever experienced (in a year), including pre-pandemic,” Sutton said.
She added the number of calls are “certainly trending upwards,” with Chris Gariepy board chair calling it “the new normal,” and suggesting the increase had previously been delayed during the pandemic.
“Truthfully, it’s because our communities are growing,” Sutton said in an interview after the meeting. “That is the biggest driving force.”
To help address that increasing demand, she pointed to the requests included in the recently approved budget including funding for eight new officers to bring the total compliment to 112 by the end of the year, and three new civilian positions, including one person dedicated to writing applications for grants and funding to help reduce the cost of the service to the municipalities.
The other two civilian positions include one additional Crown brief clerk for a total of three people to help file reports and free up time for officers to spend on patrol as well as one person to oversee the service’s new online reporting tool.
Sutton hopes the online reporting will be available in the first quarter of this year and the service is targeting midyear as the start date for the additional clerk.
December Breakdown
December saw 53.34 per cent of calls in Innisfil, where Patrol Zone B was busiest, and 46.66 per cent in Bradford where Patrol Zones E and D were busiest.
Patrol Zone B is in Innisfil east of Sideroad 10 between Line 5 and Line 9, while Patrol Zone E is in Bradford from Holland Street south, and Patrol Zone D is in Bradford from Holland Street north.
Similarly to previous months, only 32 of December’s calls for service were deemed highest priority.
There were some areas in which calls increased in December 2023 compared to December 2022, including:
- Mental-health calls increased to 31 from 11
- Thefts from vehicles increased to nine from five
- Assaults increase to 12 from nine
- Bylaw calls increased to 13 from 10
Regarding mental-health calls, Sutton recalled during the board meeting at the same time last year that those calls were down noticeably.
“We knew they weren’t going to stay down; they are cyclic, and obviously a significant increase in December compared to last year,” she said.
However, there were other areas in which calls decreased in December 2023 compared to December 2022, including:
- Break and enters decreased to five from 10
- Fraud calls decreased to 20 from 28
- Domestic calls decreased to 67 from 76
- Provincial offence notices decreased to 201 from 205
Impaired calls remained the same as last year at 51, thefts from vehicles remained the same at nine and shoplifting calls only increased by one to 10.
The deputy chief explained that through the Festive RIDE (reduce impaired driving everywhere) campaign, local police stopped about 32,000 vehicles and deployed the alcohol screening device 88 times, which resulted in:
- eight warn range suspensions
- five people charge with impaired offences
- 99 criminal charges laid
- 34 people charged with other provincial offences
“Impaired driving is not going away. I don’t know what the answer is, but we will continue to do our due diligence,” Sutton said, adding that police plan to perform more RIDE blitzes during football season and St. Patrick’s Day.
Unlike at some recent meetings, the statistics from the municipal speed cameras were not available due to the short time between meetings.
Sutton noted the officer handling speed-camera warning letters had been redeployed elsewhere and the camera in Innisfil was still out of service.
Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin, added that the red-light camera at the intersection of Highway 89 and County Road 27 was activated in late December, but there was no information available from it yet.
Collisions
December saw 151 motor vehicle collisions with 63 in Bradford and 88 Innisfil. Out of all of those, 124 resulted in property damage, 15 resulted in injury, 11 involved a hit and run, and one was fatal.
A majority of collisions in Innisfil were near Innisfil Beach Road (IBR) and the 20th Sideroad, as well as Yonge Street and Line 6.
“The intersection of IBR and the 20th, that is the most dangerous intersection and has the most MVCs (motor vehicle collisions) in Innisfil,” Dollin said.
She added that she expected the County of Simcoe would begin reconstruction of that intersection this year, but the project was still waiting on approval from Metrolinx.
A majority of collisions in Bradford continue to be along Holland Street West with Line 8 and Fletcher Street also being common locations that month.
The total number of fatal collisions for 2023 was six, with three each in Bradford and Innisfil.
Crisis Calls
Crisis calls increased slightly in December to 57 compared 48 in November, with nine of December’s calls handled by the Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COAST), while 48 were handled by front-line officers.
Sutton had previously explained that the issue came down to timing, with many calls coming in at times when crisis workers weren’t available.
To help address that issue the province announced $117,865 in funding through the Mobile Crisis Response Team Enhancement (MCRT) grant on Oct. 27.
While the average wait times for officers offloading patients at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre increased slightly to two hours from 1.8 hours in November, Southlake Regional Health Centre went the opposite way, with average wait times decreasing to 1.4 hours from 2.2 hours in November.
While 25 calls resulted in people being taken to hospital, 26 were diverted.
Of those who were taken to hospital, six went voluntarily.
“When members (of the public) volunteer to go in, generally the police don’t have to take them, but there are times ... police will facilitate getting this person to hospital, but we have not apprehended them,” Sutton said.
Under certain circumstances, officers who encounter people in crisis may take them to hospital for assessment, but must remain with them until they are admitted.
