Hanover Police Chief Christopher Knoll has the latest stats on policing in the southern Grey County town.
His annual report was recently presented to council.
He says, “In 2022 our calls for service were at 5,247. That was a 14 per cent increase over 2021. The highest on record for our police service.”
Knolls report presented some highlights. He says they increased their clearance rate for violent crimes 81.1 per cent in 2021 to 82.4 per cent. He says there was a reduction in incidents from 169 to 165.
Knoll’s report notes there was an increased number of criminal charges to 712, an increase of 169 or 31 per cent over 2021.
He says they had a clearance rate of 46.3 per cent for property crimes.
Police laid 209 charges under the Highway Traffic Act compared to 134 in 2021.
They more than doubled their number of R.I.D.E. checks from 19 in 2021 to 41.
The police chief noted, some major incidents in 2022 included a bomb threat called in to the Hanover and District Hospital, the downtown rooming house fire at the Forum, as well as a drive-by shooting that resulted in the suspects being arrested in Ottawa, and also a takeover style robbery with a firearm at a Hanover apartment. He says police arrested those suspects in 2023.
Knoll says being a regional hub drives their work and the number of calls they get, noting, “I always say, bush lots and farm land don’t drive police work, people drive police work, so the more poeple you have, the more police work you generate.”
He says most of the service’s calls are about drug and susbtance use, mental health, homelessness and poverty as well as domestic violence.
Knoll says the service also obtained a provincial grant for $84,000 over three years for their Community Trail and Downtown Safety Initiative.
Knoll’s report says they’re working to increase education programs about drug use prevention strategies, and their current business plan includes engages the services of an in-house mental health worker to attend calls out of the Hanover station.
