Regina crime statistics show crime up 20% overall in 2023

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The most recent statistics from Regina’s Board of Police Commissioners show both property crime and crimes against people are up a combined 19.7 per cent so far in 2023.

There was a 32.2 per cent increase in crimes against people in February of this year compared to February of 2022, while crimes against property rose by 16.5 per cent during the same time period.

“The first couple of months, the percentages tend to look quite drastically high or quite drastically low,” said police Chief Evan Bray of the early year statistics.

Bray provided an example saying if there were three instances of a crime recorded in 2022 but there were six during the same time this year, that would show a 100 per cent increase.

“Sometimes we just kind of caution that in the first couple months of the year, we really have to let the dust settle to see what the trend is going to be. That said, some of our crime stats are definitely trending hot this year,” Bray added.

Assaults, sex offences up

Crimes against people were largely driven by assaults, which saw increases in 1, 2, 3 and “other” level assaults, which accounts for 306 incidents so far in 2023 across those four categories. By this time last year, there had been 243 incidents recorded.

For some context, assault with a weapon would be considered a level 2 offence, while aggravated assault would be a 3. Discharging a gun with intent, pointing a gun at someone or assaulting an officer would fall into the “other” category.

There has also been an increase in sexual assaults and “other” sex crimes, like sexual interference, luring a child with a computer or voyeurism. There have been 36 sexual assaults recorded in the stats so far, a 24.1 per cent increase over the first two months of 2022 when 29 incidents were recorded.

There have been 13 “other” sex crime charges laid in the first two months of 2023, a 62.5 per cent increase over the eight incidents the same time period last year.

Theft under $5K, fires driving property crime

Crimes against property in 2023 have seen 242 more incidents than the same time last year (for a total of 1,705 crimes so far), Bray noted, a 16.5 per cent increase — largely driven by theft under $5,000.

There have been 790 incidents of theft under $5,000 this year compared to 658 during the first two months of 2022, a 23.8 per cent increase. Mischief and wilful damage, which ended 2022 trending down was up again, Bray noted.

“I’m hoping we’ll get there again this year but fires have been a problem for us and that is captured,” Bray said.

There were 290 incidents of mischief and wilful damage so far this year, compared to 200 in 2022, a 45 per cent increase.

Bray said property crime trends for the most part are still being driven by people stealing from cars. Locking a vehicle or not leaving valuables in sight could diminish the opportunity for crime, he added.

“Those types of crimes, while we want them reported because they help us with trends, they also drive our crime rate up and that is one of the most significant pressures that we face,” Bray said.

crmartell@postmedia.com

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