Fort Frances continues to see an increase in violent crime.

Statistics to the end of November show a nearly 15 per cent increase over 2023.

Staff Sergeant Matt Leblanc says it is in part driven by an increase in certain areas.

“However, a lot of those components, if you’re looking at criminal harassments, most of them were threats, a lot of Facebook component, and online social media issues, and mental health,” says Leblanc.

Property crime to the end of November is down almost eight per cent over 2022.

Drug-related incidents are down 11 per cent, while motor vehicle collisions show a 17 per cent drop.

Leblanc attributes the decline in MVAs to the lack of snow in October and November.

OPP are making good use of the Automatic License Plate Readers that are now installed on most police vehicles in the Rainy River District.
LeBlanc says in the last two months, police made stops that led to 108 charges.

“We’re stopping a lot of cars and having a lot of different contacts with people. It’s catching people with expired license plates, or it will flag anybody. That driver’s license has been either suspended or expired. You don’t always end up with that person driving, so you can end up having a traffic stop and identifying issues, and you might not end up charging. We are still seeing a lot of alerts on our license plate reader system.”

Leblanc says since the province no longer charges to renew their license plate, many people are under the assumption they do not have to do so.