Criminal activity was down in North Bay in several high profile areas, as of the end of November.

Those areas include sexual offenses, assaults, robberies, drug charges and total offenses.

One area of concern though is calls for service, which are up by 700 year to year.

Police say on average there are 322 mental heath calls a month.

Chief Shawn Devine says that number continues to rise.

“On average over the last 2 years our numbers were below 300. In 2017, the numbers are creeping up over 300 calls a month so they are increasing,” he says.

He says the city has higher numbers than Chatham and Peterbough which are much larger centres.

Deputy Chief Scott Tod says mental health calls aren’t considered criminal offenses but they do require a police presence.

“It involves a response that is traditionally not criminally related initially and it requires some type of police presence to de-escalate the event,” he says.

 

(File photo)

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