EDMONTON – Clearance rates for violent crimes in Edmonton are down this year partly because police resources were moved to the homicide unit, says the police chief.
“Our clearance rates aren’t going down specific to violent crime … That’s readily explainable simply because we have appropriated so many resources to the homicides that we’re not focused on some of the other crimes,” Chief Rod Knecht said Thursday evening after an Edmonton Police Commission meeting.
A report presented to the commission highlighted trends in crime clearance rates in Edmonton. In the first two quarters of 2011, Edmonton police cleared 42 per cent of all crimes, compared to about 39 per cent during the same period of time in 2010. The clearance rate for violent crime, however, was slightly down from about 51 per cent in 2010 to 49 per cent in 2011.
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The clearance rate for sexual assault cases was down about 10 per cent in 2010 compared to the same period in 2011. Awareness campaigns about sexual assaults may mean more people are reporting the offence, which could contribute to an overall drop in clearance rates, Knecht said.
Officers from traffic, sexual-assault and traffic units have been pulled into the overburdened homicide unit to help them solve this year’s record-breaking 43 homicides.
While the force hoped to let these officers return to their respective units by the end of the year, it looks like the homicide unit may need to hold on to them for a bit longer. Knecht said homicide investigators may need extra help for the next six months to a year.
“It’s pretty clear now that we’re going to be in this for the long haul,” Knecht said.
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