Criminals don’t make up a large percentage of the population.
A small number of them, however, make up a significant percentage of the crimes committed within our community. These people are considered “prolific offenders,” and police keep a close eye on them, because they dramatically increase the overall crime numbers in any given region.
“Prolific offenders have always been a priority for the RCMP, including the West Shore detachment,” says Const. Alex Bérubé of the West Shore RCMP.
For example, he says such criminals are most often responsible for spikes in property crime.
“A suspect will usually break into more than one vehicle to steal whatever he or she can, thus increasing the number of files reported to police.”
Five of these offenders were arrested and had charges recommended by West Shore RCMP in the month between May 7 and June 9 – a significant increase in apprehensions over a typical period of that length. Over the past year, there were 78 police contacts with those five individuals.
“We are seeing these (arrest) numbers recently due to extensive efforts from every unit here at West Shore,” Bérubé says. “We have officers that are passionate about the job they do and take pride in helping our communities by arresting and charging these prolific offenders.”
Police also watch such chronic offenders carefully once they are released back into the population, as they often pose a high risk to re-offend.
“When some (prolific offenders) are released from custody,” Bérubé says, “we are right on them, making sure they abide by their conditions.”
West Shore RCMP count on the public’s help in reporting suspicious activity, and are happy with how the community responds to such requests, he says. Passing on information was especially important in the cases of these prolific offenders and helped investigators target those doing the most harm in our region.
“The public is playing a major role in these investigations,” Bérubé says.