Good governance and a thriving economy become extremely difficult to achieve when residents are preoccupied with crime and their personal safety.
There are reasons why Victoria residents perceive thereB次元官网网址檚 an increase in crime, that are not addressed by the recent article B次元官网网址榃hy many Victoria residents may perceive an increase in crime.B次元官网网址�
Headlines in the same Victoria B次元官网网址 issue - B次元官网网址楳an shot at Royal Jubilee last month, arrested at hospital for weapons possessionB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址楳an arrested after allegedly chasing Victoria security guards while wielding knifeB次元官网网址� - suggest thereB次元官网网址檚 much more to the story.
The total volume of crimes remains substantial.
As a generalization, itB次元官网网址檚 true overall crime rates are relatively level over the last decade, and lower than two decades ago. That said, our population has increased dramatically over those periods, so the number of actual crimes remains troublesome.
ThereB次元官网网址檚 a different set of numbers presented in the document from Stats Canada for Victoria-Esquimalt. In recent years, the percentage change in the overall crime rate is escalating: In 2017, the crime rate was 10,431 per 100,000, moving to 11,145 in 2018, and 12,372 in 2019.
Residents, though, are understandably most concerned about their personal safety and severe crime, and less so by the crime rate, the measure chosen by the article.
Macleans Magazine recently ranked Victoria the 59th best community in Canada, largely due to high rankings on serious crime. Based on Statistics Canada data, the five-year average of the crime severity index puts Victoria-Esquimalt at 122nd in the country.
Crime rates for the province itself do nothing to soothe the perception of an increase in crime locally.
The provincial report Crime Statistics in British Columbia (2019) tells a more complete story, even though there are limitations to statistics since reporting rules changed the last couple of years.
In 2019, B.C.B次元官网网址檚 crime rate increased 17.3 per cent to 87.1 offences per 1,000 population. B.C.B次元官网网址檚 overall crime severity index and B.C.B次元官网网址檚 violent crime severity index are on an upward trajectory. There were 20,738 more violent offences reported by police in B.C. in 2019, with the largest increases in physical assaults, uttering threats, indecent or harassing phone calls, and sexual assaults.
In recent years, clearance rates - the number of crimes solved - have been dropping significantly. When less than half of violent crime is not solved, itB次元官网网址檚 a major issue.
All these measures of crime exclude the awful pandemic year of 2020. ItB次元官网网址檚 been a time of unprecedented social upheaval, the lawless homeless camps in parks, the partial emptying and reduction of cells in provincial and federal jails to allow for COVID safety protocols, and the reluctance of courts to lock anyone up.
There have been a number of horrific high-profile crimes and violent random crimes impacting perceptions. As is often the case, much of the crime locally is driven by mental health issues and an opiate crisis and the result of inadequate support services.
When thereB次元官网网址檚 a fractured governance system B次元官网网址� five different police departments across the region B次元官网网址� the failure of everyone to work on a common issue of crime concentrated in the downtown core area has consequences.
Residents may very well be accurate in perceiving a worrisome increase in crime.
Stan Bartlett
Victoria
