Cape Breton prostitution, break and enters biggest issues, says police chief

From property crimes to prostitution to renovations to their own headquarters, 2015 was a very busy year for Cape Breton's police service.

Police chief Peter MacIsaac says crime rates are "pretty much the same" as last year, but the police service has nonetheless kept itself occupied with special task forces and renovations.

The service received around 70,000 calls for service, he says — an increase over the previous year. MacIsaac listed the following statistics:

• Overall criminal code violations: on par with Nova Scotia's average, about 5,500 violations per 100,000 people
• Violent criminal code violations: lower than provincial average and Canada as a whole 
• Property crime violations were "significantly higher" than provincial average due to a lot of vandalism
• Most frequent violation was break and enter, mostly vehicles. 

MacIsaac says the service is continuing with objectives set in its strategic plan for 2015 to 2018.

Break and Enters

"We see several thousand calls per year in relation to that," MacIsaac told CBC Sydney's Information Morning. 

The numbers have been high enough over the last few years to trigger a special task force to curtail the problem. MacIsaac says efforts have led to 150 charges being laid.

"Our task force was basically led by a combination of our community safety enforcement unit and our patrol unit, working very closely with our criminal analyst," he said.

"We looked at some of the crime trends and did the crime patterning where the incidents were happening at."

Their plan analyzed common times of day the offences were occurring and the locations. They also linked past suspects because "70 per cent of our calls are in relation to people we've dealt with in the past." 

He says task force has been a positive force in returning stolen property. 

Operation John Be Gone

Prostitution in the municipality "really reached a head this year," and required another task force called Operation John Be Gone. 

MacIsaac says police have had numerous complaints from businesses and citizens about activity on Charlotte Street. About 200 people were engaging two-dozen women who've been "victimized and exploited," "viciously assaulted" and "unlawfully confined," he said.

Changes to prostitution laws in Canada put significant pressure on the police force, he says. When they started investigating, social issues were ruled as a major cause. 

"We found out those women weren't there by choice. They were there by their circumstances," he said. 

"There were there because there were addiction problems. There was lack of family support. There was lack of lower levels of education. There was lack of food, lack of shelter."

Social and addiction services joined police efforts. Arrests of several individuals who were procuring those services have been made, he says. 

"My biggest fear was that if we didn't do something and get everyone involved here and help these women, we were going to have a homicide here."  

Renovations to headquarters

Renovations continue at their new headquarters, 865 Grand Lake Road.

"It's great for morale but at the end of the day, it goes right back to service delivery," he said. "It has been a big deal for our officers and flow of our service."

It's been key for organization since amalgamation 20 years ago, MacIsaac says. It's providing much-need amenities including Interview and interrogation rooms, major crimes rooms, identification rooms, labs, polygraph rooms, and patrol offices. 

Several sections of the building are complete, but renovations will continue. 

"I suspect the central division will be done shortly, probably early February," he said. "We're not bursting at the seams any more."