The holiday season has been pleasantly slow for local police forces so far and they are hopeful it will stay this way.

“It was definitely a quiet Christmas,” offers Steinbach RCMP Sergeant Joanne Ryll who says a combination of the COVID-19 restrictions and the cold winter weather seems to have kept people indoors and out of trouble.

Steinbach RCMP officers responded to 36 calls for service between Thursday (Christmas Eve) and Monday. Ryll says this is a rather small number for that period of time and notes the calls themselves were fairly minor. “Nothing earth-shattering,” is how she puts it.

The Police Chief in Ste. Anne says he has noticed similarly peaceful behaviour from his residents in recent days. In Marc Robichaud’s opinion, most people have a general willingness to follow government public health orders which he believes is lowering the local crime rate.

“People are staying at home more and maybe sometimes that means there are fewer opportunities for bad behaviour,” he says. "Everybody could use a break right now and certainly in the policing world we are appreciative for it."

While the Ste. Anne Police Department has been mobilized to enforce public emergency health orders as they pertain to COVID-19, Robichaud says they have not yet received a single report of a social gathering exceeding the legal limit.

“We still have New Years' coming up, but I don’t think this will be problematic either,” states the chief. “I think that people understand the reason for the rules and are buying into why we are doing this.”

Aware that there may still be holiday parties leading up to New Years', both Robichaud and Ryll say their members will be vigilant in patrolling the streets of Ste. Anne and Steinbach for impaired drivers and illegal gatherings in the coming days.