Author: The Equity
Published November 7, 2023
Connor Lalande, reporter
Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) has released its annual report on Police activities in the MRC Pontiac.

The report contains statistics related to vehicle collisions, crime and municipal violations within the 18 municipalities of the MRC Pontiac between Apr. 1, 2022, and Mar. 31, 2023.

The following is a breakdown of key insights contained within the report.

Crimes against persons

The SQ reported the highest number of crimes against persons the region has seen in the last five years.

These crimes include offences resulting in death, assaults, sexual assaults and robbery.

The report cites 272 crimes against persons within the MRC Pontiac, including 23 sexual assaults and 145 assaults. In the previous reporting period, there were 202.

The report lists Mansfield-et-Pontefract, with 80 instances, as the municipality with the highest number of crimes against persons. This is a near doubling of last year’s reported number of 39 instances in the municipality.

Alleyn-et-Cawood is listed as the municipality with the lowest number of crimes against persons with only one instance.

Municipal regulations

Police issued 73 tickets for infractions to municipal bylaws during the report’s timeframe. This number represents a 16 per cent decrease from the previous report’s number of 87 tickets.

Examples of municipal bylaw infractions include excessive noise complaints, traffic violations and actions of public nuisance.

The results show a statistically significant decline compared to the results of the last four years in the MRC Pontiac.

Collisions

Within the MRC Pontiac, 313 vehicle collisions occurred during the report’s timeframe, up slightly from 298 the previous year.

Of reported collisions, 270 resulted in damage to vehicles and no injury.

No fatal collisions occurred throughout the territory. Last year there was one. Collisions with serious injuries increased from one in 2021/22 to four in 2022/23.

Impaired driving charges saw a notable increase, from 38 instances in 2021/22 to 56 in 2022/23.

Crimes against property

The SQ reports crimes against property, including arson, breaking and entering, vehicle theft and fraud, as declining from 204 instances in 2021/2022 to 193 in 2022/23.

Fraud is listed as being the most frequent type of crime against property during the 2022/23 report at 49 instances, making up 25 per cent of reports.

Mansfield-et-Pontefract saw the highest number of property crimes, with 40 reported. Chichester saw the lowest number of property crimes, with only one instance reported.

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