For the most part, crime is down in Edmonton this year, but the one single factor driving an increase in violent crime is a 13 per cent spike in sexual assaults.
“Sexual assaults are up again this year. That continues to grow. We’re up 13.3 per cent. That’s the big jump on the violent crime side.”
Edmonton police chief Rod Knecht said the number of incidents is probably higher, however there remains a lack of reporting.
“We’ve tried to message out there: please report. I think more people are reporting. There’s still a reluctance to report, however, we do see it going up. We do know that it’s sort of the tip of the iceberg.
“There’s lots of sexual assaults, sexual crimes that aren’t reported for a number of reasons.”
In the first seven months of 2017, around 540 victims reported being sexually assaulted to police in Edmonton, 63 more compared to this time last year.
“You have to recognize that represents only about eight to 10 per cent of what is happening in our city,” explained Mary Jane James, the executive director of the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton (SACE).
James estimates the true number of sexual assault victims in Edmonton each year to be more than 10,000.
“That’s the alarming piece — that there’s still so many people out there who are choosing, for whatever reason – not to come forward, not to tell their story to see if justice can be served,” she said.
James says the best way to help victims is to listen.
“If someone discloses to you, your first response should be, ‘I’m sorry that happened to you. How can I support you? How can I help you?'”
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Knecht reallocated some resources to handle the increase, adding a couple of investigators to the regular sexual assault unit, as well as one more to historical sexual assaults.
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“We made that decision in June,” Knecht said.
“We’re spread thin and we have lots of demands and lots of areas. We’re spreading the resources around on a priority basis.”
Knecht said in recent years officers have changed the way they respond to calls from sexual assault victims.
“Yes, we need to get the evidence because we want to get this person, convict them and make sure they’re held to account for their crimes. But what’s equally important is to make sure that person is dealt with respect and compassion throughout the whole process.”
That’s especially true for child sexual assaults — which are up nationally — even though the numbers don’t reflect that in Edmonton.
“We do believe here in Edmonton it’s grossly under-reported,” Knecht told the Edmonton media and his semi-regular Coffee With The Chief event.
“We know it’s going on. It’s just a question of under reporting.
Child sexual assaults are being investigated in partnership with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT).
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Knecht also said historical homicides are being reviewed, including in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women file through Project Kare.
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“I read here last week that we had some breakthroughs that we were able to certainly identify suspects. So that’s helpful and once we’ve got a suspect, there’s fresh information, then we can pursue it.
“If we’ve missed anything, if there’s more we can do, re-interview more old witnesses, that sort of thing. DNA, we’ve gone through every single file.”