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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A vicious Sunday morning attack that sent a 32-year-old man to an Edmonton hospital for treatment of a head injury highlights a spike in assaults in Yellowknife compared to last summer, and crime in general over the last four years.

According to an RCMP press release, the man was punched in the face by an unknown male attacker, described as five-foot-seven and Caucasian, on 50 Street at around 3 a.m. The injured man fell back, hitting his head on the sidewalk and lost consciousness. The assailant left the scene in a cab after the assault.

This comes after a city municipal services committee meeting where Insp. David Elliot told city council June was the busiest month Yellowknife RCMP have experienced in the last four years, with 86 assaults - 30 more than during June of last year, he said - an increase of 35 per cent.

He did not specify during the meeting how many crimes overall police dealt with in June, but according to previous bi-monthly RCMP reports published in Yellowknifer, there were 1,136 calls for service to the RCMP from June 6 to July 2 of this year compared to 1,058 from May 31 to June 27 of last year.

One Yellowknife woman, who asked not to be named, said she has seen violent crime increase in the city. The woman said her friend was jumped by about four guys behind the Raven Pub in December.

He was found unconscious by police with everything he had on him stolen. He got hit in the ribs badly and came out of the attack with two black eyes.

The woman said she has heard about other people being attacked by groups in the same area, one instance as recent as three weeks ago.

"Hopefully the solution would be to have lights there in the back alley, or cameras so that when something like this happens we can catch those people," she said, noting her friend did not get a view at his attackers as it was dark and he was covering his face.

A lifelong Yellowknifer, she said she is hearing more stories of these sort of attacks happening now than ever before.

At the city meeting, Elliott said reports of causing a disturbance are on the rise as well.

"That is our intoxicated people in our community," he said.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said he's seen worse crime in previous years, noticeably in 2006 when city hall was broken into on Jan. 18 and was file No. 186 of that year. Elliott attributed some of the escalation in crime to the nice weather, with more people out and about on the city streets, but added "it's the social issues that are kind of bringing things up for us."

City councillor David Wind told Elliott he hopes

the RCMP bike patrol continues into future years, and Coun. Bob Brooks said the patrols have been very visible and present on the streets, from what he's heard.

"I've already heard news on the street that they're a very welcome addition," said Brooks.

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