The end-of-year statistics from the Whistler RCMP are a mixed bag of results, with decreases in traffic collisions offset by increases in property and violent crimes.
Presenting to the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) Committee of the Whole on March 19, Staff Sgt. Sascha Banks of the Whistler RCMP detachment broke down some of the numbers.
“It’s been no secret that in the last four years there’s been an increase in property crimes … particularly when it comes to theft,” she said.
The numbers for property crimes show a moving trend in total crimes investigated by the RCMP, with 615 recorded in 2023—up from 511 in 2022 and 446 in 2021. The high-point in the last five years was 2019, however, pre-COVID, when the local detachment investigated 714 cases.
Banks said in 2023, while seeing a similar increase over the last few years, bike thefts were still below 2019 numbers.
“I think that Whistler is not like it was in 2019—it looks a little bit different, but is that meaning that by 2024 statistics, when they come out we’re going to be back to old patterns? … [it’s] yet to be determined,” Banks said.
“There is no doubt looking from 2020 to 2023, we’re seeing an increase in those property crime statistics, and that means for this coming year there’s been a heavy focus on how we can tackle that, particularly for the bike season coming up in May.”
One category of property crimes that was up over 2020 and 2019 was fraud—which Banks clarified as online scams, fraudulent sellers and even fake rental listings.
The number of cases seen in 2023 was 100—up from 74 in 2022, 53 in 2021, 71 in 2020 and 85 in pre-COVID 2019.
The theft under $5,000 category also noted a mention, with Banks saying it was specific to shoplifting.
“We have seen a marked increase in shoplifting in the community this past year—similar numbers to what we were seeing in 2019,” she said. “So it’s a lot of ski jackets, ski pants—that type of product that seems to be going out the door.”
She said the community response team is working with the Whistler Village business group on ways to mitigate the increase.
Councillor Ralph Forsyth pulled up the property crime numbers and queried who the primary culprits for theft are.
“I had always thought shoplifting was something high school kids did, but is it different now, or not the case… or never the case?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t say they are not part of that group when it comes to youth,” said Banks. “We have seen an uptick as of late with kids stealing fragrances from some of our stores, but the individuals taking products like ski jackets or clothing tend not to be part of that youth group … it tends to be adults, and groups of individuals that are working in a two or three-person group.”
Coun. Jessie Morden queried the rental fraud item, citing personal experience, prompting Banks to talk about how people who list fraudulent rentals tend to be out of country.
Coun. Arthur De Jong picked up on the bike theft item, and asked if the RCMP has any insights on how the number of bike thefts can be reduced.
“We are currently digging in to all 43 bike thefts that we saw last year to highlight which hot spot areas we were seeing bikes stolen from,” said Banks, who said often it appeared bikes were being opportunistically stolen from the backs of trucks or from the village overnight.
“I do know that a lot of them go missing off the bike racks of peoples cars,” she said.
VIOLENT CRIME ON THE RISE
Moving on to violent crime statistics, Banks said the total number of cases reported is on the rise, at 304 in 2023, 295 in 2022, 278 in 2021, and 223 in 2020.
“We have an uptick in violent crimes for Whistler. We are actually above our numbers for 2019,” she said.
“As to why we are starting to see more violent offenses in Whistler, it really goes to the re-opening of Whistler and the amount of people that come into the community. You will start to see those alcohol-related factors … they tend to be 80 to 90 per cent of one of the causation factors of the assaults.”
Also on violent crimes, domestic violence numbers are at the lowest in five years, with 28 cases reported in 2023, down from 41 in 2022.
Touching on mental health act calls, Banks reported a significant decrease, which she said could be due to more people being able to get outside and recreate post-COVID, but added the reduction in the number of calls hides the fact many of the calls were more severe.
“Those we are seeing in mental-health crisis are in more severe mental-health crisis,” she said.
As for road safety statistics, Banks reported a “marked reduction” in the total collisions within Whistler. In 2023, there were 129 collisions, down from 181 in 2022.
“This is the lowest number in five years, when it comes to collision statistics,” she said.
Additionally, Whistler has now gone five years running with zero fatal collisions. The tragic incident late in 2023 that claimed the lives of three people took place within the Squamish detachment’s reporting area, and was not reflected in Whistler numbers.
The number of incidents leading to motor vehicle damage over $1,000 is going up, however, though Banks noted it costs significantly more to repair a vehicle than it has in years past, making that category of reporting outdated.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Whistler RCMP is also apparently on the prowl: 2023 saw a huge increase in the number of tickets issued from traffic stops, at 1,601 for the year—up from 983 in 2022.
“This is a five-year top,” said Banks. “If you want to look at that specifically, that’s 600 additional traffic stops that my members conducted and gave violation tickets for. These could be speeding, running a stop sign, driving contrary to restrictions when you’re on N licenses … it’s something we’ve worked on heavily.”
On that, Coun. Cathy Jewett talked about the amount of snow Whistler received over the past few weeks and congestion on the highway, and then pivoted to snow tires.
“There’s been a lot of discussion in the community about tire checks, and we would love to hear why they are not being conducted when we have weather conditions like this,” Jewett said.
Whistler is different than most places in the province, in that when it snows, people come, responded Banks.
“When it snows, you just add that extra element of road issues on there, and it gets very difficult for the road maintenance crews to come in and do those roads and plow them when the congestion starts,” she said.
“When you’re seeing those days with heavy amounts of snow, by the time they get here, tire checks are pointless. By the time they’re in Whistler, there’s no way to take them off the roads, or if you do, good luck getting a tow truck in.”
She added weather events causing issues in Whistler also apply to Squamish, and the drain on resources required to filter out those who aren’t prepared to drive in winter conditions outweighs the benefit.
“It’s something we can work on, but it’s not the solution to the problem. I would say the majority of people that come here have the correct tires on,” she said, noting she has done tire checks herself.
“I would say we catch maybe, out of 2,000 cars, three cars that don’t have correct tires, or maybe the tires they do have are getting below the 2.5-mm mark,” Banks said.
“The majority of times, people up here are driving beyond what the conditions should be. You can have the biggest, chunkiest, backcountry winter tires on your vehicle, but if you drive too fast for conditions, you’re going to cause issues.”
Finally, the total calls for service numbers were getting back to pre-COVID numbers as well, at 5,088 for the year, compared to 4,778 in 2022.
The complete report and strategic plan update can be watched on the RMOW website.
