WELLINGTON COUNTY – The level of serious crime and calls to police remain below pre-pandemic highs across Wellington County, according to a report presented to Wellington OPP’s local governing body in September by Inspector Steve Thomas.
Year-end reports to the county’s Police Service Board (PSB), typically made in the first or second month of each year, provide insight into crime statistics and notable police activities in the county for the previous year.
According to Thomas’ report, the unspecified number of calls made to police last year remains below a pre-pandemic level of 32,699 calls made in 2019, but higher than 2021’s call volume of 30,896.
Wellington OPP media relations officer Joshua Cunningham did not respond to multiple inquiries from the Advertiser requesting the total number of calls last year.
The 2022 year-end report acknowledges there were further decreases in crime last year, but notes overall calls to police were “higher than expected trend levels.”
The report does not indicate what expected trend levels were or the degree of change, and it largely does not speak to the reasons for increases or decreases.
“It is anticipated that calls for service and overall investigations will be higher in the coming year as we transition away from the pandemic response,” Thomas wrote in the report.
He did not provide an explanation as to why, and PSB members did not ask.
Vehicle collisions most prevalent occurrence
The three most prevalent occurrence types in the county remained consistent last year: vehicle collisions, traffic complaints and calls for police assistance.
The nondescript “police assistance” category is used when a call doesn’t apply to more specific categories available, including when police assist paramedics, an OPP spokesperson previously told the Advertiser.
Despite being in the top three, there were in fact decreases in the number of traffic complaints and calls for police assistance in 2022.
There were 276 fewer traffic complaints, and 130 fewer calls for police assistance in 2022 when compared to 2021.
The number of vehicle collisions was up, however, and took first place for the most prevalent call type in the county.
After a 2021 decline in crashes, there was an increase last year of 655 to a total of 2,478 collisions. That represents a 36 per cent increase from 1,823 collisions in 2021.
Drug impairment rising
There were fewer people caught while driving with alcohol in their blood last year (54) than there were in 2021 (91).
But the number of people caught with drugs in their system increased by 70% to 56 in 2022, from 33 people in 2021.
Thomas told the police board that officers are getting better at detecting drivers under the influence of drugs.
Fewer speeding tickets issued last year
There was a 15% decrease in the number of racing and stunt driving occurrences in 2022 – a total of 44 were reported, compared to 52 in 2021.
In fact, there were 542 fewer overall charges in 2022 under the Highway Traffic Act (HTA), including stunt driving, than there were in 2021.
Police issued 6,250 HTA-related tickets in 2022, an 8% decrease from the 6,792 tickets issued in 2021.
The report doesn’t indicate how many of those charges resulted in convictions after being tested in court.
Despite the drop in the number of tickets police are issuing, Thomas asserted traffic enforcement is still being done throughout the county.
Wellington roads deadlier in 2022
Although there were fewer collisions injuring people in 2022, more people were killed on Wellington’s roads last year than in 2021.
The lives of 10 people were claimed in collisions in 2022, a 43% increase from the seven people who died on roads within the county in 2021.
In 2020, seven people also died in collisions, meaning 24 lives have been ended on Wellington roads in the past three years.
Drinking, driving offences continue to decline
“The big four” offences, which police say contribute to injuries and death in crashes, include not wearing a seatbelt, speeding, distracted driving and driving impaired.
There were year-over-year decreases in the number of speeding and impaired driving offences captured by police from 2021-22. There was an increase of a single seatbelt infraction, and the same number (92) of distracted driving offences.
According to OPP data, there’s a downward trend that can be seen in the yearly cumulative total for all of the big-four offences throughout the past decade.
Decrease in domestic, mental health, theft calls
There were fewer reported domestic disputes, mental health concerns, and thefts in 2022 compared to 2021.
Though the number of domestic disputes reported last year declined by 1%, there were still 787 such calls — far above a yearly average of 410 disputes between 2010 and 2020, according to an Advertiser review of a call data from that decade.
The 640 thefts in 2022 represents an 8% decline from a total of 699 thefts in 2021.
The number of thefts reported in 2021 and 2022 were below a yearly average of 795, according to the Advertiser’s review of data between 2010 and 2020.
Decrease in violent crime, drug offences
There was a decrease in the number of violent crimes last year (435), compared to 2021 (456) and a 10-year high of around 600 violent crimes in 2018.
Compared to 2021, there were also significantly fewer criminal charges laid by police last year.
In 2021 there were 1,442 criminal charges laid, compared to 411 in 2022 – a decrease of 71%.
The report doesn’t indicate how many of those charges resulted in convictions.
The violent crime categories with the most offences in 2022 included assault, threats and sexual assault.
There was a 14% decrease in assaults, to 165 in 2022 from 192 in 2021.
(The number of police officers assaulted more than doubled in 2022, with 16 such incidents last year, compared to six assaults against officers in 2021.)
The number of reported sexual assaults was also down, with a 14% decrease to 52 in 2022 (62 in 2021).
There was a small increase of 2% in the number of threats, from 113 in 2021 to 115 in 2022.
The number of drug-related offences continues trending down from a 10-year high of between 300 and 350 in 2014 to just 40 in 2022.
