P.A. sees 7 per cent increase in violent crimes; Complex Needs Facility opening delayed

“In response, the organization is going to pay particular attention to this, so we’ve asked our analytical unit to provide us some feedback on where we are seeing them, what are we seeing, are there any trends there we can identify within the community,” Nogier said.

From there, he said the police service will assemble a team to focus on robberies.

There is some good news when it comes to crime trends in the first quarter of the year. Property crime saw an 11 per cent decrease. Nogier attributed part of that to businesses and homeowners doing what they can to prevent it by securing property physically or by setting up security systems. He said the public is also vigilant about reporting suspicious activity online.

“We’ve had individuals that have identified items taken from outside our community,” said Nogier. “We’ve had break-and-enters happen just outside of Saskatoon and we’ve been able to call the homeowners after receiving information that their items were being seen on Facebook Marketplace. There again, it’s more eyes – the better.”

So far in 2026, the police service has seen a substantial increase in the number of arrests for public intoxication; 130 in 2025 compared to 231 this year. Nogier said the rates are alarming, but a complex needs facility is on the horizon. The unfortunate part, he said, is that the facility which was supposed to be operational within a few weeks, may now not be open for several months.

“Demolition in the building has been done. We know that there’s been some updates that were required. We continue to have negotiations with external agencies that will run that institution, but we now think that it’s likely more in the fall that it will be open.”

Nogier said there will be a big demand for the resources in the facility once it’s open and the goal is to try and reduce arrests for public intoxication if they can “get people on a different trajectory.”

An ongoing concern in the city has been the number of people fleeing from police. There was a 73 per cent increase between 2024 and 2025 when there were 375 occurrences. Nogier said the police service’s analytical team discovered that the majority of occurrences were happening in March; 58 per cent of them occurred between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.; and a lot of them were associated to stolen vehicles.

“There’s a message there for the community. We need your assistance in ensuring that your vehicles are locked down. Make them inaccessible. Don’t allow individuals to take advantage of it.”

A total of 33 people were charged following those 375 incidents last year. The police service also did a three-week project recently dedicated primarily to looking into individuals who were fleeing from police. It led to four stolen vehicles being recovered, 10 people being arrested, 42 criminal code charges laid, three outstanding warrants executed, as well as three search warrants being executed in homes.

“Not to mention, we took firearms off the street as a result of this intervention. We took drugs off the streets and the individuals that we know are associated to flight from police are now being held accountable.”

While Nogier would have liked to see the task force continue throughout the summer, it was made up of personnel who he said need are needed for frontline operations.

While flight from police is a significant issue in Prince Albert, its dangers were recently exposed in Estevan. On March 27, two people died when their car was hit by a truck fleeing an Estevan Police Service officer on Highway 39 near Weyburn.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com

by paNOW Staff

P.A. sees 7 per cent increase in violent crimes; Complex Needs Facility opening delayed

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