Heavy work-load keeps RCMP in Iqaluit hopping

Fielding calls, mainly related to drug and alcohol use, added to the load of police in Iqaluit last month.

Members of the RCMP in Iqaluit responded to almost 100 calls more this past September than during the same month of 2010, Sgt. Roger Tournier told a meeting of Iqaluit city council Oct. 25.

Police responded to 727 calls in September, 2011, compared to 624 in September, 2010, he said.

“A majority of the calls are alcohol-related,” Tournier told city councillors. “Drugs and alcohol continue to be our biggest problem.”

To encourage less alcohol and drug abuse, the RCMP in Iqaluit have offered a program they call “habitually intoxicated offenders” since April 2011.

This program, which refers repeat offenders to different community support services, has assisted roughly 200 repeat offenders so far.

But because the program is voluntary, many have refused help, Tournier said.

Overall, the number of calls to police in Iqaluit has dropped since the beginning of 2011 by about 25 per cent when compared to the same period in 2010.

The overall number of people arrested and held by police has also decreased, he said.

By the end of September, 2011, police in Iqaluit had processed 2,202 prisoners.

That’s down from 2,656 at the end of September, 2010.

Tournier also told councillors that police have seen an increase in requests for criminal record checks – 197 in September.

People who apply to work in what’s considered a vulnerable sector, that is, for a job that involves working with children, elders or handicapped, must now submit a criminal reference check.

Since 2010, police have tightened that system to ensure no pardoned sex offender falls through the cracks.

This means the criminal check process can take longer.

However, applicants flagged with the same date of birth as a sex offender used to have to wait months to be cleared.

A new computerized fingerprinting system called Livescan now means a person can be cleared within minutes.

“Now we get a reply in 20 minutes,” Tournier said. “So we try and turn it over in a week or so, but with the volume can be overwhelming at times.”