Violent crime in the Peterborough area shot up by 20 per cent between 2015 and 2016, a report released Monday from Statistics Canada states.
The Peterborough census metropolitan area (CMA) includes Peterborough, Cavan Monaghan, Douro Dummer and Selwyn Townships, as well as Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations.
The report says Peterborough was one of 19 census metropolitan areas to report an increase. Ontario’s violent crime rate increased seven per cent in 2016.
Earlier this year, Peterborough police released their own data indicating the rise in violent crime in the city. At the time, they said the violent crimes that were reflected in the data were isolated incidents.
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And local police say there’s more to the story than just Stats Canada’s numbers.
“You have to be careful with how you look at the numbers versus the percentage increase,” Peterborough Police Insp. Dan Smith says.
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Peterborough had two homicides in 2016, compared to one in 2015.
On paper, Smith says, that looks like an increase of 100 per cent when it comes to Peterborough’s murder rate.
“Overall, I would say that these numbers are not reflective of how safe our community is,” Smith says.
He adds that most violent crime results from drug crime.
“Many times, the violent crimes that we’re seeing involve people that are known to one another or perhaps involved in lifestyle situations,” he says.
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