There's been a recent uptick in the amount of drivers being tested for impaired driving in the Cochrane area. 

And, RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff says the crime trend for the area was up a bit last month, but is still lower than compared to recent numbers.

"In the month of October, we still saw that trend with the lower than average crime rate continue and as it continued for most of the year. We had a total of nine break and enters and the majority of those were commercial. We had four in town and five in rural. That is up from last month, but it's still below our average."

He says there has been a rise in the amount of possible impaired drivers. 

"Right now Cochrane has done 118 impaired driving tests up to this point this year. This is above what we've done in the past, usually we do about 118 tests in the whole year."

Savinkoff says "Coming into mix next year with new legislation in Alberta, Bill 21 this will have some immediate roadside sanctions for impaired driving and some impaired drivers won't be sent to court, rather they'll be given these new Alberta sanctions. Our officers starting this month are getting trained on the new laws."

The local RCMP detachment's cell block consists of seven cells which can each hold a minimum of two prisoners. 

"So far this year we've housed 652 prisoners, so we're averaging just over two prisoners a day in our cells. That's actually quite a bit lower than what the average would be. We usually house about 1000 prisoners each year."

He says they have housed 20 to 30 prisoners in their cells at a time before. 

"COVID, we believe has had a large affect on that. We're seeing a lot fewer impaired people out in public that sometimes we'd be arresting and then releasing when sober. So that's had a pretty drastic effect in the town of Cochrane."

Savinkoff is encouraging you to check out the Cochrane Crime Map to view the latest local numbers.

As far as any developments with the suspicious death investigation from last month, that is being done by the RCMP Major Crimes Unit, and the Calgary Police Service is handling the bomb threat investigation from Oct. 26, since the threat was not made specifically to Southland Transportation here in Cochrane.