Regina’s annual homicide rate dropped in 2018, from nine in 2017 to six. Chief Evan Bray said this is encouraging, but police are still concerned about violent crime.
“We work hard to try and dig into root causes of in our city. Obviously the fact that we had less homicides in 2018 than we did the previous year is a positive thing, but each and every year we want that number to be zero,” Bray said.
Regina saw a number of young people involved in homicides this year. This includes a 15-year-old-boy being charged in the October stabbing death of a 16-year-old girl.
“I think that speaks to a couple of things, but my gut reaction is the challenges we have with gangs,” Bray said. “We have a challenge with youth gangs in this city, there’s no questions about it and youth gangs tend to be not only committing property crime, but violent crime as well.”
Property crime has been on ongoing issue, especially stolen vehicles. Bray said reports of this are up 53 per cent compared to 2017.
The increased number of firearms in the city have changed the kinds of assaults police are responding to. Bray said firearms are more commonly involved in assault calls.
“It’s sad and tragic to hear that, but to me it’s directly linked to the gang challenges that we have for sure,” Bray said.
As of the end of November, attempted murder charges are also down compared to 2017. Year-to-date Regina saw 14 in 2018 and 22 in 2017.
The full year-end crime numbers will be released at the Board of Police Commissioners meeting at the end of January.
With homicide and attempted murder charges decreasing, Bray does anticipate Regina will have a more favourable score when the crime severity index is released later this year