Property crimes spiked and traffic violations dropped in the city of Portage la Prairie from Jan. 1 to March 31 compared to the same period in 2016, according to the RCMP's quarterly report.

Break and enters nearly tripled, with 48 occurrences compared to 17 in the same quarter last year. Attempted/theft of motor vehicle also saw a large increase, more than doubling from 15 to 35 reported incidents. Property crime jumped from 71 reported incidents to 125.

City of Portage la Prairie Director of Public Safety Phil Carpenter shared details from the RCMP's report with council this week.

“For the increase in property crimes, some of the reasoning why would be the nice weather came earlier this year which contributed to an increase in transient people being out and about in the city limits,” Carpenter says. “(And) there was a group of five young offenders that were out during the month of February and March, which contributed to a big portion of the increase in property crimes, as well as several robberies.”

“These individuals, however, have been arrested and charged accordingly, and are presently before the courts.”

Traffic violations saw a significant decrease with 610 occurrences compared to 929 in 2016. A vacant RCMP traffic enforcement position and inclement weather preventing officers from patrolling the Trans-Canada Highway for several days were reasons provided by Carpenter for the decrease.

The entire report is available here.