Region’s crime rate drops
Posted Jul 21, 2011 05:37:19 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The overall crime rate in Waterloo Region continues to fall at a pace better than the national average.
But the crime severity index is a going concern for the region’s top cop.
That index, which measures the severity of crime, is up for the third consecutive year in Waterloo Region. And that bucks the national trend, which saw the severity index slip by six per cent last year.
“We had a number of robberies in 2010 and our homicide rate has been fairly consistent over the last number of years,” notes Waterloo Regional police chief Matt Torigian. “As a result, we’re seeing that violent crime severity index has been pushed higher than perhaps we’re seeing across the country or across the province.”
Overall, the region’s crime rate dropped eight per cent in 2010, several points better than the national average, which recorded a five per cent decrease in the overall crime rate. Torigian believes partnerships forged by regional police have played a key role in keeping crime down at the local level.
“What we know, in our community, is that we have an excellent collaborative approach, a connected community,” he says. “That certainly is assisting us in seeing our numbers drop even better than perhaps what we’re seeing across the country or across the province.”
According to Statistics Canada, the five per cent drop in the national volume of crime last year pushes the rate to its lowest level since 1973.
The agency says that Canadian police services reported nearly 2.1 million Criminal Code incidents in 2010, about 77,000 fewer than in 2009. Police reported just over 437,000 violent incidents in 2010, about 7,200 fewer than in the previous year.
Homicides dropped by 10 per cent from 2009 to 2010 with the national rate of 1.62 homicides per 100,000 population the lowest since 1966. This decline was led by the decrease in British Columbia’s homicide rate.
Attempted murders were also down from 2009, as were break-ins, motor vehicle theft, serious assaults, robbery and impaired driving.
But police reported an increase in sexual assaults, firearm-related offences, child pornography and drug offences.
