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By Adrian St.Onge

Most violent crime down in Medicine Hat, MHPS annual report finds

Jun 20, 2023 | 2:43 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The Medicine Hat Police Service released its annual report yesterday and says most violent crime is down from last year.

A total of 1,589 domestic violence service calls occurred, down from 2021’s 1,644. This translated to 26 fewer calls and over 500 fewer total referrals.

Mental health apprehensions were down for a third straight year, while mental health interventions dropped by 85 incidents.

Assaults, attempted murders and unlawful confinement charges experienced drops, while sexual crimes, robberies and threats or harassment charges increased for the third straight year.

Impaired driving was heavily enforced, seeing increases across the board, including nearly 100 total increases in both Immediate Roadside Sanction fails and criminally impaired driving. Distracted driving charges saw a drop of 450 charges from 2021 and more than 3,000 fewer traffic violations were issued.

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In property offences, breaking and entering saw increases for both businesses and residences while theft charges, both over and under $5,000, fell.

All charges under the organized crime section also fell, with simple possession and criminal code offences seeing the largest drops. The amount of drugs seized fell, with methamphetamine seeing the single largest drop of all hard drugs. No fentanyl pills were seized.

MHPS responded to 29,730 calls in 2022 compared to 26,885 in 2021. While this does signify an increase in the number of in-person contacts, the total number of citizen requests for assistance and required reports generated by officers dropped to a three-year low.

All data was provided by the Medicine Hat Police Service Annual Report, which can be found here.