Police stats say crime dropping in Winnipeg, but national picture not as rosy
Posted July 22, 2014 8:48 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WINNIPEG – Overall crime is down for the fifth year in a row in Winnipeg but the national picture for the city is not as rosy.
Winnipeg police have released their 2013 statistics showing a 14 per cent decrease in overall crime from the year before.
Violent crime was down 13 per cent and property crime was also down 17 per cent.
Police Chief Devon Clunis says there’s no one cause for the drop in crime but says reaching out to the community has been key.
He also says the force utilizes a strategy where they employ crime statistics from the previous three months to identify hot spots where police can deploy more resources.
However, while crime rates have been dropping since 2009, Winnipeg places nearly twice as high as the national average on the violent crime severity index, which means more serious crimes are reported in Winnipeg than in the rest of Canada.
Clunis says he believes Winnipeg can get down to, or below, the national average by continuing with the same strategies that have been reducing violent crime over the last several years.
(CJOB)
