Crime down 8.9 per cent so far this year
Collaboration has led to decreases in crime in Regina for the first half of 2017, according to Regina Police Service Chief Evan Bray.
“We have our frontline officers both in the uniform side of our building and the non-uniform side doing a lot of proactive work to try and get out in front of crime before it happens. And at the same time we’re involved in a lot of good collaborative efforts,” Bray said.
The RPS released its crime statistics for the first half of 2017 at the monthly Board of Police Commissioners meeting Wednesday. The statistics showed total crime down by 8.9 per cent compared to the first six months of last year — the first year-over-year decrease since 2013 and 2014. At this time in 2016, total crime was up 3.1 per cent from the year before.
RPS statistics showed a rosier picture than Statistics Canada’s crime severity index (CSI), released Monday. Those stats showed Regina to have the highest 2016 rate in Canada, at 125.8.
“By the time it got to be springtime (last year) we were seeing some significant increases. But that was something that was prevalent across Saskatchewan,” Bray said.
All three major categories — crimes against the person, property crime and other Criminal Code offences — have dropped so far this year compared to last.
Property crime is down by 3.3 per cent and break and enters by 1.6 per cent. Theft, however, increased by 8.4 per cent.
Property crime is “still a real pressure point for us and something that we do a lot of focused work on,” Bray said. “We continue to ask people to just keep in mind that there’s things that we can all do to keep ourselves and prevent ourselves from being victimized.”
There were five attempted murders this year, versus 14 at this time last year. There have been four murders so far this year, the same as last year.
According to Bray, crime statistics are down due to proactive work by the RPS. Police track monthly crime statistics, and last year each month painted a darker picture.
“We knew there were some crime challenges ... so a lot of different work has been done throughout the last part of 2016 and obviously through 2017 in terms of targeted enforcement. ”
A large part of this reduction in crime, he said, is due to collaborative efforts with other police forces in the province and organizations in the community. Programs such as Housing First, which helps homeless people find homes, have helped reduce crime rates.
“(If we) look at at-risk youth, we have our TRiP program that (helps). Let’s look at mental health, we have our PACT team that (helps). All this collaborative work (helps) to try and reduce crime, enhance community wellness and safety,” Bray said.
The meeting also discussed the RPS 2016 pension plan report. The older pension plan, which covered RPS employees up to 2014, saw a reduced deficit, which now sits at $17.1 million.
The newer plan, which was started to help reduce the former plan’s deficit, saw a surplus of $2.4 million.
“It’s positive for retirees, obviously, who are getting their pension, but I think it’s equally important for the citizens of Regina because any time we can reduce or eliminate a deficit that’s a positive thing,” Bray said.