Crime-related calls to the Ladysmith RCMP have decreased almost across the board when comparing the last three months of 2024 to the same time period in 2025. (Image Credit: Town of Ladysmith)

By Jordan Davidson

quarterly report

Ladysmith RCMP reports drop in most crime-related calls

Jan 28, 2026 | 4:10 PM

LADYSMITH — Crime statistics are down in Ladysmith, but there are still areas with room for improvement.

A five per cent drop in total Ladysmith RCMP callouts was reported for the most recent third quarter, compared to Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2024, however, calls for general public assistance, drug and alcohol related incidents, as well as reported sexual assaults all saw slight increases.

Ladysmith RCMP Staff Sgt. Trevor Busch told Town councillors on Tuesday, Jan. 27, reports of sexual assaults increased from one call in 2024 up to eight last year.

“It’s hard to correlate the rise or decrease with anything. They happen at anytime of the year, completely unpredictably, so I don’t have a reason for the increase. Some months are up and some are down. It’s also very difficult to prevent, because it’s an intimate nature, they’re aren’t really any RCMP proactive strategies for reducing that type of offence.”

Busch said Ladysmith RCMP’s Victim Services offers a supportive environment to help victims through the investigation and court process.

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Calls to Ladysmith RCMP for property-related offences were down 35 per cent, assaults decreased by 19 per cent, and mischief/disturbances calls dipped eight per cent.

Calls to the Ladysmith RCMP for a variety of criminal offences decreased from the last three months of 2024 to the same time period in 2025. While the percentages can be shocking at first, the small increase in the number of reports paints a clearer picture. (Image Credit: Town of Ladysmith/Ladysmith RCMP)

The largest increase was in calls to assist the general public, such as a check-well-being or other calls under the Mental Health Act.

Between October and December 2024, 188 of those calls were recorded, compared to 236 during the same time in 2025, a 26 per cent surge.

Busch said it’s certainly possible to connect the increase in these calls with a decrease in other, criminal-matter calls, such as assaults.

“We get called when people are starting to get irritated, but hopefully, we’re getting called before it leads to an assault. We can go and try to defuse things. The officers are very good at de-escalating, and they’re de-escalating before someone has committed a criminal offence.”

RCMP reports submitted to Crown counsel for charge approval were down 52 per cent, with 21 reports in 2024, and just 10 in the third quarter last year.

Busch said there are several factors at play, including a lack of evidence obtained during a police investigation, or victims choosing not to proceed through the judicial system.

“We encourage the officers to do a full investigation, no matter what…and the evidence takes us down that road, and at the end, we determine whether or not it’ll be sufficient enough to send to Crown counsel.”

With the province scrapping its drug decriminalization pilot project at the end of January, Busch was asked how this affected their members over the last three years, and what drug-related enforcement efforts will look like moving forward.

He said their “police powers were significantly reduced,” making it difficult to conduct investigations into drug trafficking, while acknowledging they could still arrest people for drug possession under certain circumstances, such as if the drugs are in a vehicle within arm’s length of the driver.

“We are in an opioid crisis…there’s so many other factors to it. It’s not black and white that we will just simply now charge, charge, charge, charge, charge. We have to look at the totality of the situation, and the Public Prosecution Service of Canada has provided direction going forward.”

He said charges of drug possession would only likely be laid in serious or egregious circumstances.

RCMP crime statistics are categorized into four quarters containing three months, with the first quarter starting on April 1.

The full report can be found here.

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