July 25, 2013 - 6:05 AM
OTTAWA - Canada's crime rate continues its downward trend, now sitting at its lowest level in more than four decades.
Statistics Canada says the police-reported crime rate fell by three per cent last year compared with 2011.
The severity of crimes committed was also down by three per cent in 2012, according to StatsCan's Crime Severity Index.
Police-reported crime has been on a steady decline since peaking in 1991.
Police services reported nearly two million incidents involving criminal activity in 2012, roughly 36,000 fewer than in the previous year.
That brought the crime rate to its lowest level since 1972.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2013