North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP is crediting provincial funding in the last year for allowing extra patrols that resulted in multiple arrests.
Staff Sgt. Ken Beard, acting detachment commander, said support from the Special Investigations and Targeted Enforcement program enabled officers to complete about 200 hours of extra patrols in key areas, including around schools.
The SITE program is part of the province’s Safer Communities Action Plan introduced in November 2022.
As part of the stepped-up enforcement, RCMP made 52 arrests that resulted in criminal charges against 40 individuals.
Four illegal guns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, several knives and a baton were seized over the year, as well as large quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine, police said, adding two stolen vehicles were recovered during the patrols.
“The resulting disruption in drug trafficking and associated violence in our community has had an important impact on the safety and security of our citizens,” Beard said in a statement Thursday.
