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August 03, 2022 - 11:30 AM
While the national crime rate was stable from 2020 to 2021 and the B.C. rate fell by 4%, Kelowna’s crime numbers shot up 10%.
Based on all crimes reported to police, the national rate was 5,375 per 100,000, B.C. was at 7,486 while Kelowna hit 11,112.
The data, released by Statistics Canada yesterday, Aug. 2, only breaks crime down by Census Metropolitan Areas, meaning the largest cities in the country. For Kelowna, that covers the entire Central Okanagan regional district.
READ MORE: Brazen attitude of prolific offenders bogging down Kelowna RCMP: top cop
Kelowna also had the second highest rate of opioid offences of the country’s largest cities at 116 per 100,000 behind only Lethbridge at 124 per 100,000.
Quebec had the lowest crime rate in Canada at 3,207 per 100,000 while Saskatchewan was the highest of any province at 11,561. Rates in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories were more than 53,000 crimes per 100,000 residents.
This is the first time since 2006 that violent and non-violent crimes moved in opposite directions, a Statistics Canada news release states.
It does not break violent and non-violent crimes down by city or province.
Violent crimes increased by 5% to reach pre-pandemic levels while non-violent crimes dropped by 3%.
These were just the crimes reported to police.
A 2019 General Social Survey on Canadians' Safety showed that only 29% of all crimes were reported to police, the report says.
When it comes to violent crime, Level 1 sexual assault increased by 18% and makes up 98% of sexual assaults reported.
Level 1 sexual assault is an “assault of a sexual nature that violates the sexual integrity of the victim, the release says.
Level 2 and 3 (which fell 5% and 13% respectively) involve threats, weapons, and bodily harm.
Criminal harassment was up 10%, non-consensual distribution of intimate images was up 8%, indecent or harassing communications were up 4% and uttering threats was up 3%.
Hate motivated crimes jumped by 27% in Canada in 2021, which follows on a 36% increase in 2020.
The rate of firearms-related offences increased by 4%, the seventh consecutive year of increases.
There were 788 reported homicides last year, up 29 from the year before. Of those, 41% were firearm-related with 57% of those committed with a handgun and 26% with a rifle or shotgun.
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