A rise in violent crimes in Moose Jaw is not going unnoticed by the Moose Jaw Police Service. 

According to the police’s June statistical extract, assaults are up year-to-date by 22.8 per cent compared to the same time period last year. As of the end of June this year, there have been 167 assaults compared to 136 last year. 

“We came through those two pandemic years where things had shifted a bit. What we anticipated was increases in, I’ll use the term violence. We've had increases in just about every category of assault,” said Chief Rick Bourassa. 

Sexual assaults have risen 25 per cent compared to 2021, while common assaults were up 29.8 per cent. 

Assaults with weapons or causing bodily harm have risen 19 per cent, while robberies are up 500 per cent and uttering threats are up 113 per cent. 

“We are not anomalous. This is something that other police services are seeing as well, and it's what was anticipated. We're certainly not satisfied, but we saw the trends coming,” Bourassa said. 

However, the police as seen a decline in aggravated assaults, assaulting police officers and domestic disputes. 

In total, the police have seen a 6.7 per cent increase in crimes against the person, jumping from 255 from January to June of 2021 to 272 in 2022.