Pubdate: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 Source: Daily Press, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2003 Daily Press (CN ON) Contact: http://www.timminspress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1001 Author: James Thom OPP HAVE RECORD YEAR IN ARRESTS, DRUG BUSTS Local News - Officers in the South Porcupine cluster of the Ontario Provincial Police met nearly every goal their detachment commander set out for 2002. "It was a good year for us," said Mike Jordan detachment commander of the South Porcupine cluster. "Most of our incident numbers were consistent with last year (2001)." Jordan said in 2002, officers laid 6,650 charges under the Highway Traffic Act compared with 5,035 charges laid in 2001. "We had more officers on the road at peak times which led to more visibility at peak times and an increase in charges," Jordan said. In 2002, there were eight fatalities in motor vehicle collisions in the cluster, which includes Iroquois Falls, Gogama, Foleyet, Matheson and 29 townships in the Timmins area. Jordan said the investigating officers believe three fatalities were caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel, two were caused by poor driving conditions, two were cause by driver errors and one fatality was the result of a freak accident. Jordan said he had hoped the number of fatalities would be consistent with or lower than 2001's seven fatal collisions. "We're hoping through enforcement and increased visibility, we can prevent motor vehicle collisions," Jordan said. "But it's harder to prevent fatalities." Jordan said overall, the number of motor vehicle collisions in 2002 was favourable. Officers responded to 410 collisions which bested the target of 437 Jordan had set. "We were doing well for our MVCs all year," Jordan said. "But in November and December, we had some strange weather which caused black ice and freezing rain which led to many more collisions." The OPP reported 148 break and enters in 2002 when 193 were targeted, officers performed 271 snowmobile patrol hours when 200 were targeted and performed 536.5 foot patrol hours when a target of 300 was set. Jordan was proud of the efforts of local residents doing their part to solve crimes. "Crime Stoppers had an excellent year," Jordan said. "We received 7,112 calls," Jordan said. "These led to 1,138 arrests, helped clear 1,362 cases and recover 1.6 million in property and more than $3 million in drugs." Jordan has identified safer roadways and trails, aggressive drivers, more roadway patrols, foot patrols, education in the community, decreasing victimization and quarterly patrols targeting commercial vehicles as goals for 2003. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth