Trail RCMP say they had their hands full last year dealing with property crime in the city.
Their annual crime statistics, recently presented to city council, showed their overall calls for service was about the same in 2021 as the year before.
However, the number of crimes rose from 1,279 in 2020 to 1,532 in 2021, which they described in a news release as “closer to pre-pandemic levels.”
Break and enters decreased from 66 to 38, which police attributed to people taking more precautions to secure their homes and being at home more often due to the pandemic.
However, auto thefts increased from 14 to 32 due to thieves targeting unlocked vehicles with the keys left inside or nearby.
Thieves stealing things from unlocked vehicles continued to be an issue as well, with 144 instances in 2021 compared to 104 the year before.
Police also said a “considerable” amount of street drugs was bought and sold over the last year, prompting a high number of investigations.
Mental health and addictions continued to be significant factors across all crime categories, police said.