Impaired driving infractions were way up in Whistler last year, according to the Whistler RCMP—but that's not to say more people are drinking and driving.
"I have been particularly focused on encouraging my members to go out and seek opportunities to do enforcement on the road, whether that be through planned road blocks or just impromptu road blocks," said Staff Sgt. Paul Hayes, in presenting the Whistler RCMP's 2018 stats to council on Feb. 26.
"I don't believe there is necessarily more drivers on the road that are driving impaired ... I think we were more effective last year in catching them."
Local police busted 493 people on impaired drug or alcohol infractions in 2018, a 72-per-cent jump from the 286 infractions in 2017—and a far cry from the five-year average of 263.
Domestic violence incidents rose slightly from 40 to 45 (in line with the five-year average), as did business break and enters (11 to 13), possession of stolen property (12 to 19) and theft over $5,000 (seven to 14).
"Bike thefts, on the other hand, are way down (from 74 to 35), thanks to our bait-bike program, our Garage 529 and our public awareness campaigns that we've been so heavily involved with over the last few years," Hayes said.
Public intoxication incidents also rose significantly, from 124 to 188, as did cases of fraud (43 to 85).
While several people in the Sea to Sky have fallen victim to all manners of scams in the past year, there's not much local police can do, Hayes said.
"We're doing our best with awareness, but when crimes are committed from outside the country there is little that we can do at the detachment level to charge these people," he said.
In a more general sense, it was another busy year for the detachment, with Whistler RCMP assisting with the G7 convention in May, responding to wildfire throughout the province in the summer, training around new cannabis legislation and responding to more and more missing persons files due to increasing access to the backcountry.
"Social media is making the backcountry much more appealing," Hayes said.
Local police are also moving forward with an anonymous, third-party reporting mechanism for sexual assault survivors, Hayes added.
Looking to the next three years, the detachment will create a new strategic plan (with community and stakeholder input), increase enforcement around Cannabis Act legislation and look to strengthen its relationship with local First Nations, Hayes said.
FUNCTION DISTILLERY EYES RETAIL SALES
Also at the Feb. 26 meeting, council gave first readings to a zoning amendment bylaw that will allow for the sale of packaged liquor at a new distillery in Function Junction.
"We are hoping to have one shelf in our space to be able to provide the opportunity for visitors to purchase a bottle when they see us," read a letter from Kwang Chen, owner/operator of Montis Distilling (located at 1062 Millar Creek Road).
"Having an on-site storefront will also give us the ability to sell our product at events such as our farmers market according to LCRB regulation."
The distillery is "hoping for completion of the space in Feb. of 2019," Chen wrote.
