Belleville’s new police cruiser. (Photo: Nicole Kleinsteuber / Quinte News)
There were more charges in sex related crimes laid in Belleville in the first quarter of this year.
To the end of March, Belleville police investigated 19 offenses of a sexual nature. Thirteen sex related cases were dealt with by police in the first quarter of last year.
The clearance rate for the crimes was 100% this year and in 2016.
Meanwhile, city police were less busy with assaults in the first quarter than they were last year.
This year, officers dealt with 78 assaults, down from 99 in 2016.
There were a few more break and enters in the City of Belleville in the first quarter of this year when compared to the first 3 months of 2016.
Belleville police investigated 48 break ins to the end of March, compared to 38 in the same period last year.
This year, the clearance rate was 33%, up from 13% in 2016.
The first 3 months of the year have been busy for Belleville police officers when it comes to fraud and drug charges.
In the first quarter, police dealt with 81 incidents involving fraud.
That is considerably higher than the 68 frauds in the same period last year.
As far as drug charges are concerned, city police laid 60 charges to the end of March. There was an 88% clearance rate.
In 2016, only 46 drug charges were laid.
Overall, the number of crimes investigated by officers in the first quarter was up. In the first quarter, there were 1,242 criminal
incidents compared to 1,096 in the same period last year.
