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Sask sees crime decrease; high rural crime rates

Statistics Canada recently released their report of police-reported crime in 2017 on July 23.
Statistics Canada recently released their report of police-reported crime in 2017 on July 23.
 
Saskatchewan was one of four provinces that saw a decrease in their Crime Severity Index; “a measure of police-reported crime that reflects the relative seriousness of individual offences and tracks changes in crime severity,” according to Statistics Canada.
 
In Canada overall, 1.9 million criminal code incidents were reported to police, nearly 45,300 more than in 2016, says the Statistics Canada report.
 
Six provinces saw increased crime rates, including Nova Scotia (six per cent), Alberta (five per cent), Ontario (five per cent), Manitoba (three per cent) and Quebec (two per cent).
 
Besides Saskatchewan (six per cent), Newfoundland and Labrador (nine per cent), Prince Edward Island (seven per cent), and British Columbia (five per cent) all saw decreases.
 
Half of Canada’s metropolitan areas saw increases in crime in their jurisdictions, however, Regina was one of the top three communities that saw a decrease in crime with an 11 per cent fall. St. John’s (15 per cent) and Vancouver (six per cent) were with Regina in seeing falls in severe crime.
 
On a per capita basis, rural crime rates are still higher than urban crime rates with 21 per cent of crimes committed in rural areas, with half of rural crime being committed in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
 
Only a quarter of the prairie population is being served by rural police services. In 2017, “relatively high rural crime rates were reported in Manitoba (42 per cent higher than the province’s urban crime rate), Alberta (38 per cent higher) and Saskatchewan (36 per cent higher),” reported Statistics Canada.
 
“Police in rural areas reported 25 per cent of violent crime, 18 per cent of property crime and 24 per cent of other Criminal Code offences in Canada. The crime rate in rural areas was 30 per cent higher than in urban areas (6,581 versus 5,082 incidents per 100,000 population),” said the report.
 
This has been a similar trend since 2009, however, in 2017, rural crime rates decreased by one per cent while urban rates increased by two per cent.
 
High rates of property crime was the cause of high crime rates in Alberta while Saskatchewan and Manitoba had high rates of all types of crime; like violent and property.
 
Firearm crime is on the rise throughout the country, especially in metropolitan areas. Over 2,734 firearm-specific violent offences were reported in 2017 with 7,700 victims involved in crimes that included firearms.
 
Saskatchewan has seen a 47 per cent increase in firearm-specific violent offences, the highest increase among the provinces.