New report from Statistics Canada reveals that in 2021, Moncton had the third highest police-reported crime rate in Canada.
Among metropolitan cities, only Kelowna, B.C., and Lethbridge, Alta., had higher crime rates in 2021, according to the Aug. 2 report.
The traditional crime rate is used to measure police-reported crime in Canada and is expressed as a percentage per 100,000 people. The crime rate is calculated by adding up all Criminal Code incidents reported by the police and dividing by the population.
In Moncton, the rate jumped seven percent, from 8,588 per 100,000 people in 2020 to 9,168 in 2021.
Moncton has the third highest crime rate among Canadian metropolitan cities in 2021, according to a Statistics Canada report released on August 2. The crime rate is calculated per 100,000 population. (Prapti Bamaniya/CBC)
Moncton also ranks fourth in the Crime Severity Index, or CSI, which has increased by nine percent.
Warren Silver, an analyst with Statistics Canada, said the increase in CSI was due to more serious crimes being reported.
“So we’re basically saying that crime is nine percent more serious in 2021 than it was in 2020. And what’s really driving that increase is an increase in burglary as well as level 1 sexual assault,” he said.
Sexual violence is ranked based on severity levels from Statistics Canada. Level 1 is the least severe, including any violation of the victim’s sexual privacy. Level 2 sexual assault involves a weapon, bodily harm, or threats of a weapon. Level 3 is also known as aggravated sexual assault, which involves sexual assault that injures, maims, disfigures or threatens the victim’s life.
The numbers only include crimes reported by the police, and the report mentions that any increase in 2021 could be due to a decrease in reported crimes in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moncton councillors recently held a special meeting to discuss a public safety plan in June that included 22 recommendations with no timelines or costs.
Among them are clearing tent cities within 72 hours and spending more money to increase the number of RCMP officers in the region.
Kevin Walby, a criminologist at the University of Winnipeg, said increasing the police budget is not the answer to those numbers.
“To increase the police budget more, it’s just never going to work.”
“The only way we can reduce offending and actually create safer, healthier communities is to fund community and social development, to fund non-punitive approaches to addressing offending and harm.”
According to a Statistics Canada report released on August 2, Moncton had the fourth highest Crime Severity Index in 2021. The Crime Severity Index (CSI) measures the severity of crime in a given region. More serious crimes carry more weight in the CSI compared to the crime rate. (Prapti Bamaniya/CBC)
The police board says more officers can help
Don Moore, board chairman of the Codiac Regional Police Authority, said he believes the increased police presence is part of the solution to reducing crime rates.
“I think there are other solutions. However, as a police agency, we have a mandate of what we have to do,” Moore said. “This is not just a police decision. There are other aspects to making this work in an overall strategy.”
Meanwhile, according to the report, the number of crimes in St. John decreased in 2021 by about four percent compared to the previous year. In 2020, Saint John had the third highest crime rate, but in 2021 it ranked 28th on the list of all Canadian metropolitan cities.
“The marked decrease in robberies can certainly help make a difference,” said St. John Police Sgt. Sean Rocca.
Provincially, New Brunswick has the eighth-highest crime rate of the 13 provinces and territories and is up eight percent from the previous year, putting it above the national average. The Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon have the highest crime rates among the provinces and territories.
But Cpl. Hans Ouellet, RCMP media spokesman in New Brunswick, said the province is still a “safe place to live.”
“Numbers can go up or down every year, but that doesn’t necessarily indicate a trend due to various factors,” he said.
The severity of violent crime in New Brunswick increased by seven percent from last year, while the youth crime rate decreased by five percent.
Moore said the Codiac Regional Police Department has embarked on a new plan for policing the region. After engaging with 80 communities and receiving community input through surveys, municipal elected officials will review and create recommendations.
The report is due to be published in September.
“We want to take … the next 3 to 5 years to move the needle in a positive way for safety and security in our community,” Moore said.
Walby said spending more money on policing hasn’t had much of an impact on crime rates in the past and said Moncton should consider other options.
“We’ve seen that as more and more money goes into the police, it has very little effect on crime,” he said. “So there is a disconnect. Police say they keep us safe and create safety in society. But none of the numbers suggest that is the case.”
A sharp national rise in sexual violence and opiate-related crimes
Canada had an overall crime rate increase of one percent. This growth is primarily due to an 18 percent increase in the rate of Level 1 sexual assaults, which together account for 98 percent of police-reported sexual assaults in 2021.
Canada’s rate of sexual assault in 2021 is highest since 1996.
“The number of sexual assaults reported by the police is likely a significant underestimate of the true extent of sexual assault in Canada, as these types of crimes are often not reported to the police,” said the Statistics Canada report.
Reported hate crimes also increased by 36 percent over 2020 in Canada. Overall, the number of police-reported hate crimes increased by 72 percent from 2019 to 2021.
Nationally, there were continued declines in the rates of break-ins, thefts of less than $5,000 and robberies.
Opioid-related crimes are the only type of drug-related crime that has increased over the past two years in Canada. All opiate-related crimes were up 13 percent from the previous year. These offenses include possession, trafficking, manufacturing and import or export offences.
The Public Health Agency of Canada said the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating an ongoing public health crisis with opioid overdose deaths and hospitalizations. In the first year of the pandemic, there were 7,362 opioid-related deaths, a 96 percent increase from the previous year, according to the agency.
Add Comment