Crime down, firearms incidents up in Nunavik, KRPF says

This graph from the KRPF report to the KRG council meeting in Kuujjuaq shows police nabbed illegally imported alcohol worth $54,630 from August to the end of October. The largest amount, worth $10,900, was seized in Inukjuak.

This graph from the KRPF report to the KRG council meeting in Kuujjuaq shows 50 vials of hash oil were seized in Inukjuak, while 50 pills, and quantities of cocaine and hashish were seized from August to the end of October.

This graph from the KRPF report to the KRG council meeting in Kuujjuaq shows that police seized 13,902 grams of marijuana in Nunavik from August to the end of October. Of this amount, 4,186 grams (about nine pounds) came from Inukjuak.

After a delay due to the blizzard that swept across Nunavik’s Ungava Bay and Hudson Strait Nov. 26, the Kativik Regional Council started its quarterly meeting in Kuujjuaq — with a nearly all-new regional council elected this past Nov. 7.

And in its Nov. 27 report to the council, the Kativik Regional Police Force delivered a comparison of crime statistics for the period between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31 for the years 2010, 2011, and 2012.

And the KRPF said that, compared to the same period in 2011, in 2012:

• crimes against the person and assaults decreased by four per cent;

• the total number of calls dropped by 6.5 per cent; and,

• criminal incidents reports were down by 11 per cent.

But the KRPF noted an increase of about 37 per cent increase in the number of calls in which firearms were involved, with 26 incidents recorded from the beginning of 2012 to the end of October.

No details on these were supplied in the report.

But the report did outline how the KRPF, the Sûrété du Québec and the Montreal-based UMECO aboriginal combined forces special enforcement unit, which includes the RCMP, the SQ and native police forces, have collaborated drug and alcohol seizures in Montreal.

An operation at Canada Post in Montreal, which took place last month, netted marijuana, hashish, hash oil, cocaine, pills and alcohol.

The seized drugs and alcohol had an approximate street value of $320,000 in Nunavik, the KRPF said.

Also with Canada Post, the KRPF’s criminal intelligence officer and members of UMECO, conducted surveillance at various Société des alcools du Québec liquor outlets and cargo facilities. This resulted in a seizure of alcohol worth roughly $20,550 in Nunavik.

The KRPF supplied no information about whether these operations led to any arrests in Nunavik or Montreal.

According to details in a report of drugs and alcohol seizures in Nunavik between August and the end of October, police seized an amount worth $761,000 in Nunavik.

That included 4,186 grams of marijuana, about nine pounds, in Inukjuak.

Again, no details on whether the seizures led to arrests was provided.

Overall, the street value of the alcohol and drugs seized between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31 in Nunavik reached $1.9 million, down from $2.5 million during that same period in 2011.

KRPF police chief Aileen Mackinnon also told councillors that the KRPF is in negotiations to renew its tripartite funding agreement between Ottawa, Quebec and the KRG.

Another funding agreement for the KRPF between Quebec and the KRG also ends March 31, 2013.

The KRPF, created as an aboriginal police force in 1995, was to be run regionally with Inuit officers. However, there are only three Inuit police officers in the 66-member force.

The force now receives roughly $15 million a year to provide policing to communities in Nunavik.

This graph from the KRPF report to the KRG council meeting in Kuujjuaq shows the total street value of drugs and alcohol seized in Nunavik between August and the end of October.