RCMP Supt. Kara Triance.
Image Credit: Submitted/Kelowna RCMP
June 15, 2023 - 11:34 AM
Despite the best efforts of Kelowna RCMP, the city is not likely to improve much in terms of its crime rate in 2022 versus 2021 when it was one of the most crime-ridden cities in the country.
“While RCMP are seeing improvement in key metrics (i.e., break and enter and auto theft) since fall 2022, the annual figures mirrored those of 2021,” Kelowna RCMP Supt. Kara Triance says in her quarterly update that will go to city council on Monday, June 19. “Therefore, no significant changes are anticipated in this summer’s Crime Severity Index Report from last year.”
Leading up to last fall’s municipal election current Mayor Tom Dyas dubbed Kelowna as the crime capital of Canada.
That’s not totally true since it’s the greater Kelowna area – the Central Okanagan – that had the highest crime rate on the largest metropolitan areas in the country.
And while crime rates are different from crime severity, Kelowna didn’t do well on either score in 2021 and it didn’t get better in 2022, according to the report.
“Repeat (property) offenders continue to significantly impact crime in our community and, therefore, the crime / Crime Severity Index rates for Kelowna and area,” Supt. Triance’s report says. “Key police resourcing metrics indicate that Kelowna RCMP is dealing with relatively higher calls for service, Criminal Code of Canada offences and case loads compared to similar-size communities across the province.”
Those comments compare 2021 and 2022.
The data in the report compares the first quarter of 2023 with the first quarter of 2022 that shows some improvements but some increases as well. It shows calls for service down 6.3% to 13,113.
Total calls for service downtown declined by 3% to 1,906. There are no comparable numbers for Rutland for 2022 but there were 1,255 calls for service there in the first three months of 2023.
Calls for service with a mental health component were up 13.9% to 801.
Auto thefts were down 39.7%, business break-ins were down 32.8% and mischief calls were down 26.6%.
READ MORE: Property crime up in Kamloops, again
Shoplifting was up 20.2% and residential break-ins were up 6.5%
“While shoplifting has increased approximately 10 per cent provincially, Kelowna experienced a 20.2 per cent increase in Q1 2023 compared to Q1 2022,” the report says. “Observed labour shortages among loss prevention employees coupled with a general rise in shoplifting post-pandemic may be driving some of this increase.
“Loss prevention policies and reporting practices may also be impacting the data with some businesses absorbing and not reporting shoplifting. In light of this, Kelowna RCMP is prioritizing and targeting repeat offenders for their persistent and brazen criminal activity in our retail businesses.”
Intimate partner violence reports were up 18.4% to 193 incidents during the quarter and common assaults increased by 4.6% to 293.
Theft with violence, on the other hand, dropped 60% to eight cases.
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