Waterloo Region homicide numbers stay below national rate

As homicides increased in Canada from 2021 to 2022 according to a Statistics Canada report, trends in Waterloo Region are heading the other direction.

The Waterloo Regional Police Service Board (WRPSB) meeting Wednesday saw a presentation comparing the national numbers to the local reports.

The total number of homicides reported by WRPS last year is five. That’s down from seven homicides in 2022, but up from two incidents in 2021.

Waterloo Region’s homicide rate in 2022 was 1.1 homicides per 100,000 people, which is well below the national rate of 2.25 and the province’s rate of 1.91.

If you compare the rates over the last 10 years, Waterloo Region has been under national average for the whole decade.

Police Board member and Mayor of Woolwich Sandy Shantz told the board that the region’s rising population could be skewing homicide rates, but seeing that the total number of homicides is relatively consistent is “encouraging.”

The presentation also showed that there were eight incidents of attempted homicide in 2023, bringing the total number of incidents to 13. Included in those were three family-related incidents and one attributed to intimate partner violence.

Chief Mark Crowell told CityNews earlier in January that “one [shooting] is too many” and that the entire service has all hands on deck working to bring downward trend to zero.

“We’re focused on five-year trends because any one year can provide an illustration of what’s happening, but it’s really with a five-year trend,” said Chief Crowell at Wednesday’s PSB meeting. “We’ve included the attempted homicides [in the report] because every one of these investigations represents an intensive months and sometimes year-long investment of our investigators time.”

Overall, the StatsCan report showed increases across Canada in 2022 in total homicides as well as incidents involving firearms, gang-related homicides, youths charged with homicide and officers killed.