‘Majority’ of suspects in recent break-ins arrested: RCMP
Staff Sgt. Darrell Gill gives update Tuesday to Iqaluit city council
Staff Sgt. Darrell Gill, Iqaluit RCMP’s detachment commander, speaks at a May 2024 council meeting. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)
A majority, if not all, of the suspects wanted for a spate of recent break-ins in Iqaluit have been arrested, the city’s RCMP detachment commander says.
Staff Sgt. Darrell Gill gave the update to city council during Tuesday’s meeting while presenting the RCMP’s monthly reports for September and October.
“The members of the Iqaluit detachment did a great job in locating the suspects and getting them under arrest,” he said.
Several businesses and organizations have reported more than 36 break-ins over the past few months, including First Steps Daycare, the Royal Canadian Legion branch and Qajukturvik Community Food Centre which were targeted multiple times.
Gill did not provide an exact number of arrests but said a news release will be issued “soon.”
His update was in response to alternate deputy Mayor Harry Flaherty — sitting in the mayor’s seat in the absence of Mayor Solomon Awa and deputy Mayor Kim Smith — who brought up the issue of break-ins.
“There seem to be quite a bit of them,” Flaherty said.
Drugs were also a topic of interest for councillors, with Coun. Kyle Sheppard asking about the prevalence of crack cocaine and other hard drugs in Iqaluit.
“A lot of us know individuals that have been impacted by this, and it’s just surprising to see a total of 15.5 grams of drugs seized for the year,” Sheppard said, referring to the figure listed in the RCMP’s report.
“What can we do to get more of these drugs off our streets?”
Gill said the RCMP has a “dedicated section” that investigates controlled drugs, but he wants the public to call and let police know what they see.
“That’s the most important thing — gathering the information,” Gill said.
“Without that, it is a challenge.”
Sheppard also asked how the RCMP, along with municipal enforcement officers, will work to control impaired driving as Christmas approaches.
“You’ll certainly see us out there during the holiday season,” Gill said.
Iqaluit RCMP responded to 948 calls for service in September. More than one-third them, 367, involved alcohol.
In October, there were 985 calls for service, of which 154 involved alcohol.
Good work to the RCMP detachment and the public..
I agree it must be challenging.
The public must be reminded of the importance of sharing information with the RCMP. Every little bit assists the investigations.
Protect our children, protect our communities, and support the RCMP.
And businesses and RCMP must be aware of the value of releasing footage to the public immediately after the break-in occurs. The post office was broken into on October 5, and RCMP were only able to obtain footage two days ago.
In addition, in the case of a break-in that happened a couple of weeks ago, RCMP only provide footage and details after they were prompted by the media to do so, days later.
Several years ago we provided footage of an intruder at our business to the RCMP within hours of the event. The officer basically said ohh yahh…that’s *well known thief*. We’ll add this to the file but there’s not much we can do.
Said *well known thief* still checks the doors at our space every few months.
how stupid does a person have to be to do break ins/theft in iqaluit? within 10 minutes every inuk knows who did it. there are no secrets here especially among the inuk.
These RCMP numbers mean NOTHING…. absolutely nothing. You want to know why! It’s the same 10-15 households/people that get called each month.
“Iqaluit RCMP responded to 948 calls for service in September. More than one-third them, 367, involved alcohol”. What does this statistic mean without any backup… NOTHING!
These stats aren’t for the average shmo. These are repeat offenders who drive the numbers up to make it look bad and show the RCMP are really busy. I bet you can name a house on your street that attributed to 10% of the calls alone.
Of these break-ins that have been arrested how many of them got a slap on the wrist? How many are repeat offenders that have been charged previously and there are little-to-no consequences? How many of the arrests are actually a deterrent? This is what the public wants to know. RCMP stop just throwing out numbers that mean absolutely nothing.
Keep looking. Arctic Survival storage was broken into last night, the very night of this meeting.
And how many of these arrests lead to bail and subsequent release of these “known” criminals to go back out and steal again? Maybe the prosecution office should take part in these meetings too
So 15.5 grams of drugs reported being seized this year? We’re already at the end of November. Somethings not right. They’re either taking a cut or consuming it themselves. An investigation should be done about this. The amount of absurdity going on out in town is due to the amount of people with no fear that they’ll get arrested if busted with drugs. Maybe the RCMP here needs an overhaul and the territory get their own police force like how Nunavik has their own, and they’re not even a territory, just a region in a province.
Yahh…cause that’s working out well!
https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/nunavik-police-chief-launches-disciplinary-investigation-into-christmas-tree-photo/