Poor public opinion plaguing downtown

Downtown Kelowna is viewed as an unsafe neighbourhood by 41% of city residents, a new poll says.

That’s up from 31% who felt this way when the same question was posed in a 2019 citysponsored survey.

And 21% of residents say Rutland is more unsafe than other areas of Kelowna, compared to 14% who said this three years ago.

However, the number of people who say they’ve been a victim of crime has fallen, to 25% from 28%, in the past three years, the survey says. Of those who identified themselves as victims, 91% said they’d been the victim of a property crime while nine percent said they’d been the victim of a violent crime.

More than half of all crime victims — 52% — said they hadn’t reported the incident to police, five points higher was the case in 2019. The most common reason given: a feeling that police could not do anything about it.

Overall, the community safety survey presents both worrying and somewhat reassuring indicators about the public perception of crime in Kelowna. Full results of the statistically accurate survey, conducted by Leger on behalf of the city, will be presented Monday to city council.

On the positive side, 96% of Kelowna residents feel safe in their neighbourhood during the day, and 80% believe crime never, rarely, or occasionally affects their quality of life.

On the other hand, 70% believe property crime in Kelowna has risen and just over half believe violent crime has increased.

Asked to identify what should be the highest community safety priority for city council and police, the most frequently chosen option was: Decreasing property, petty, and drug crime rates.

The City of Kelowna has invested heavily in additional policing in recent years, with about 220 RCMP members stationed at the detachment currently and 11 more coming next year.

But RCMP Supt. Kara Triance said in a recent interview the detachment is lacking about 20% of the officers the detachment needs.