Murders up last year, but crime rate drops

The city’s murder total may have hit a 10-year high, but Vancouver police say the overall crime rate was down 1.5 per cent compared with 2016.

According to the VPD’s yearend crime statistics, there were 19 murders in 2017, the most since 20 homicides were recorded in 2008. Vancouver’s violent crime rate also jumped to 7.6 per 1,000 population in 2017, an uptick of 1.9 per cent from 2016.

Shots-fired incidents increased to 31 in 2017 from 26 the previousyear and sexual offences were up two per cent. Bank robberies, meanwhile, were down from 68 in 2016 to 52 in 2017.

The rise in violent crime bumped up against a 10-year downward trend, as the overall rate has de- creased 31.5 per cent since 2008, when the city posted a violent crime rate of 11.1.

Vancouver’s property crime rate dropped almost two per cent, ending five consecutive years of increases. Break-ins to businesses and residences were significantly reduced by close to 18 per cent in 2017 over the previous year.

“Theft from motor vehicles continues to be an issue in Vancouver, especially downtown. We saw an increase of 1.6 per cent in 2017 over the previous year,” VPD Const. Jason Doucette said in a release.

Doucette said mental health apprehensions dropped to 2,790 from 2,822 the year before.

Fatal motor vehicle collisions were also down, from 15 in 2016 to 13 last year.