There were substantially more break-ins in Timmins in March over the same month the past two years. But city police communications coordinator Marc Depatie says not to assume that it’s related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That’s a leap in logic that we’re not prepared to make at this time,” he comments quickly and emphatically.
Here are the numbers: In March 2018, 19 break-and-enters were reported. That slipped to 15 in the same month last year, and skyrocketed to 49 last month.
“There are a number of open cases as wel,” Depatie notes. “We’re hopeful to successfully locate the persons responsible, of course. But we’re not at all comfortable with the assumption that it can be attributed to the COVID pandemic situation.”
Depatie says several of last month’s cases are still under investigation to determine their validity and the evidence to support that.