Image to take another beating
2016 statistics suggest Kelowna unlikely to shake its reputation as city with one of highest crime rates in Canada
Kelowna is likely to once again be described as among the most dangerous cities in Canada when new crime statistics are published soon.
A nearly 10 per cent rise in property crime was recorded last year over 2015 levels, says Supt. Brent Mundle of the Kelowna RCMP.
Much of the spike was in “smallscale offences,” Mundle says, such as thefts from unlocked vehicles and thefts of bicycles.
And crimes against persons, such as assaults, fell 13 per cent last year in Kelowna, compared to 2015.
Nevertheless, police acknowledge that Kelowna once again will have a dubious ranking high atop both the Crime Rate Ranking and the Crime Severity Index when Statistics Canada publishes the annual reports in June.
“Expectations are that our ranking will be similar to last year, despite our fourth-quarter reduction in crime,” Mundle writes in a report going to Kelowna city council on Monday.
Last year, Kelowna’s overall crime rate was described as the second highest in Canada, behind only Saskatoon’s.
A total of 8,170 crimes were reported for 100,000 residents of Kelowna. Saskatoon’s crime rate was 8,427 per 100,000 population; the national rate was 5,189.
Equally troubling last year was Kelowna’s fourthplace ranking on the Crime Severity Index, which considers only more serious offences.
Violent crime rose 16 per cent in Kelowna between 2014 and 2015. That made Kelowna the fourth most dangerous city in Canada, behind Saskatoon, Regina and Edmonton.
In recent years, Kelowna has made frequent appearances at, or near, the top of the crime rankings.
In 2014, Kelowna had the highest drug-crime rate of any city in Canada. In 2012, Kelowna had the highest overall crime rate of any city in Canada.
Over the years, various explanations have been offered for Kelowna’s high crime rate by police and civic officials.
One of the most common is that the statistics don’t properly account for the 1.6 million visitors who come to Kelowna, many of whom are said to misbehave while on holiday.
Last year, then-superintendent Nick Romanchuk also said the city’s crime rate was impacted by laid-off oilpatch workers from Alberta.
“Some of these people are now (here in Kelowna) as opposed to working in the oilfield,” he told city council on May 2. “That’s having a huge impact on us.”
At the same meeting, Romanchuk also noted the national crime statistics reference only cities with populations of greater than 100,000. He told council there are “many, many, many” smaller communities in B.C. with a crime rate higher than Kelowna’s.
Between 2012 and 2016, the city authorized the hiring of 23 extra RCMP members at the Kelowna detachment, bringing its strength to 185.