2019 saw a substantial increase in break and enters in North Bay.
The police services board heard there were over 400 to end of November.
Chief Scott Tod tells BayToday a lot of police resources go into investigating break-ins, from Patrol Officers to Forensics and the Street Crime Unit.
“We’ve been looking at our Street Crime Unit, dedicating more resources to the aspect of break and enter. I also mentioned to the board that our number of criminal charges in relation to break and enters and other crimes in the city are up this year too,” he says.
It’s believed the illegal drug trade is involved.
“We believe it’s related to someone who’s looking and seeking to get cash as quickly as possible and the likely result of that is to purchase drugs,” Tod says.
But, he also tells BayToday a lot of break-ins didn’t actually result in anything being stolen.
“I did note to the board that many of the break and enters that have occurred have no thefts attached to them. People going into a house looking for something, or into a residence looking for something that wasn’t there, or there was no item of convenience that they would be able to steal and sell,” he says.

(photo by station staff)

Filed under: break-and-enters, chief-scott-tod, north-bay-police