Our city needs to deal with its rash of violence

Greater Edmonton — including outlying communities such as Strathcona County and Fort Saskatchewan — had the secondhighest homicide rate in Canada in 2016, according to new crime data from Statistics Canada.

The greater Edmonton area had 47 homicides last year, a rate of 3.39 slayings per 100,000 population. Only Thunder Bay, Ont., and its surrounding communities had a higher rate, with eight homicides, or 6.64 per 100,000.

The data are included in StatsCan’s annual crime-severity index, which measures policereported crime.

Unlike the crime rate, which is calculated by dividing the total number of incidents by population, the crime-severity index weights crimes based on their seriousness — from homicides to bike thefts.

With a score of 105.7, the Edmonton region had the third-highest ranking on the index, behind the regions of Regina (125.8) and Saskatoon (117.8) and narrowly beating Winnipeg.

The numbers are based on the Edmonton Census Metropolitan Area, which includes Strathcona County, St. Albert, Spruce Grove, Parkland County, Leduc, Fort Saskatchewan, Sturgeon County, Beaumont, Stony Plain, Leduc County and other outlying communities.

Last year, the City of Edmonton had a total of 41 homicides. The city has had 31 homicides so far in 2017.

In 2015, Alberta’s crime-severity ballooned 19 per cent, driven by a 13-per-cent increase in violent crimes. Police officials attributed the spike to the economic downturn brought on by the collapse in oil prices.

That trend reversed last year. In 2016, Alberta saw a one-per-cent

The big news is that violent crime went down last year in Alberta, and that’s what really drove the total decrease

decrease in crime severity overall.

“The big news is that violent crime went down last year in Alberta, and that’s what really drove the total decrease,” said Warren Silver, an analyst with Statistics Canada.

Alberta recorded an eight-percent drop in violent crime between 2015 and 2016, he said, in particular homicides. The province had 133 homicides in 2015, but just 116 in 2016.

Canada’s crime rate has been on a downward trend since 1991, with the only increases occurring in 2003 and 2015.

“They’re not random acts of violence on a stranger,” said Coun. Scott McKeen, who serves on the Edmonton Police Commission. “It’s mostly people who are leading high-risk lifestyles.”

McKeen said Edmonton has among the youngest populations of Canada’s major cities, which contributes to higher crime severity.

“I think it’s been demonstrated over time that one of the reasons crime rates have fallen over the last 30 years or so is because the population got older,” he said. “And so often crime rates are about that — what’s the age of the population?”

Canada’s territories and western provinces had the highest crime severity rankings.

Saskatchewan continued to top the overall provincial crime-severity rank (148.8), well above the national average (71). Alberta came sixth with a crime-severity rank of 102.5. Prince Edward Island (48.5) reported the lowest crime-severity index in 2016.

In 2016, seven of 13 provinces and territories reported decreases in crime-severity scores, including Alberta.