Number of homicide cases in Guelph ‘unprecedented’: police chief

Crimes reported in Guelph dropped in 2023 from 2022, but it came at the expense of a surge in the number of calls made to police.

A report by Guelph Police Service delivered to the city’s police board meeting on June 20 indicated that the overall crime rate was down, with 7,791 occurrences in 2023, compared with 8,416 in 2022. At the same time, Guelph police had to deal with a 8.2 per cent increase in the number of calls for service.

And jumping out among the statistics was a record number of homicide cases in 2023.

“We had five homicide investigations,” said Police Chief Gord Cobey. “We probably over the last 10 years average one homicide case per year. Five was an unprecedented number for us.”

Cobey noted that the number of break and enters (417) and motor vehicle thefts (259) were down in 2023 compared with the year before (524 and 194, respectively).

There were 155 reported cases of sexual assaults in 2023, down from 215 in 2022. The number of firearm and assault-related crime was 743 in 2023, up eight from 735 in 2022.

But overall, the number of violent crimes in 2023 (1,464) was down from 2022 (1,495). There were 107 calls that resulted in use of force.

The report also revealed that there were 84,333 calls to police for service in 2023, which is up 8.2 per cent from 77,933 in 2022. Cobey said he is concerned by the number of serious investigations and the resources needed to help solve those cases.

“On average, each one of our members worked approximately 130 hours of overtime,” he said. “In a 40-hour work week, that’s three weeks of overtime for every member of our service.”

Overall criminal code traffic violations were up in 2023 (320) compared with 2022 (315), with upticks in dangerous operation, driving while under suspension, and fleeing the scene of a crash. There were 800 fraud cases reported in 2023, up from 732 in 2022.

There was a 54.7 per cent clearance rate, whether or not the occurrence resulted in charges, in 2023. That was up from 50.4 per cent in 2022.

The overall number of incidents in the report resulted in more work for police officers, investigators and civilian staff, and is expected to have an impact on future police budgets. Cobey said the police service is fortunate to receive provincial grants for things like victim support services, auto theft prevention, and the mobile crisis response team, but it is hoping that city council will recognize the work that the police service does for the city.

“Certainly, we get a lot of assistance,” Cobey said. “The reality is, as one of the fastest growing cities in the province, we’ll have to continue to grow to support the service needs of our citizens.”

Cobey said police also had a record number of proactive interactions with residents.

“Our goal over the last several years is to find positive proactive engagements with citizens, whether it be in the downtown or other events that we look forward to attending.”