Stats show decrease in crime

By Heather Polischuk, The Leader-Post

 

Despite a huge drop in overall crime within the past decade, the Regina Police Service still has plenty of work to do, Chief Troy Hagen told the Board of Police Commissioners Wednesday.

 

At Wednesday's meeting, the RPS presented its mid-year crime statistics, which studies year-over-year numbers, as well as trends within the past decade.

 

When looking at total crime, 2.3 per cent fewer crimes were reported when compared to mid-year 2009 -- dwarfed by the 35-per-cent reduction from the decade's record high in 2001. Number-wise, that's 10,690 crimes reported during the first half of 2010 versus 16,435 in 2001.

 

Except for a brief spike in 2004, reported crimes have been steadily declining throughout the decade when looking at January to June numbers, with 2010 boasting the lowest numbers.

 

On average, year-over-year reported crimes were down during the first six months of 2010, with crimes against the person down by 4.7 per cent and property offences down by 0.4 per cent.

 

Crimes that have frustrated city police, like robbery and break and enter, were also down by 4.6 and 7.6 per cent respectively.

 

But it wasn't all good news. Some offences were markedly up since 2009, including thefts under $5,000 (11.5 per cent), impaired driving (15.6) and other driving offences (9.1), and drug offences (15.6).

 

Hagen said it's hard to pin down exactly what causes crime to go up or down.

 

"Crime in itself is very complex in nature and there are usually a number of factors that drive that behaviour," he said. "Certainly a 35-per-cent reduction is very positive for our community. As I've indicated, we have a lot of work before us. We're satisfied with these results thus far, but 'thus far' means we still have to continue working equally hard or even harder going forward to insure that we see and realize further reductions."

 

Hagen said focused strategies in areas like auto theft, break and enter and robbery have had an impact on reductions. He also credited a generally good economy, opportunities for employment, and social investments that help those "most at risk."

 

"Of course we've changed and improved, I think, to some extent our business practices and we're more timely in intervention strategies when we see emerging trends," he said. "That's been in existence for four to five years now. So combining everything together, we're seeing some reductions, but as I mentioned, we've got a long ways to go as well."

 

In terms of increases, Hagen said higher drug offence numbers are often due in large part to enforcement and the fact multiple charges can be laid against offenders. Increased driving offence numbers are also likely due largely to targeted enforcement.

 

"And we also have an increasing population," he added. "We have more vehicles on the road today than we've had in the past. With that increased level of traffic and usage of our public roadways, obviously those numbers should go up just because of the number of people driving in our community."

 

The spike in thefts, however, was due to an actual increase in those offences.

 

"It was theft from autos and it started last August," he said. "We saw an increase in that activity, and for the past three months we've actually now seen a decrease compared to last year, so the trend is starting to reverse."

 

Mayor Pat Fiacco said recent initiatives to hire more police officers may have played a role in bringing numbers down.

 

"With the stronger police presence, with increased numbers, with the focus on community policing, that gives the citizens an opportunity to indeed feel safe in their community, and for those that are interested in getting involved in criminal activity, the intent is for them to be uncomfortable knowing that there's a set of eyes watching them, that their activity will be reported, and that they're going to get caught," he said.