Nearly 47,000 calls were made to Kingston police in 2018, acocording to statistics released during Thursday’s budgetary and crime stats meeting at police headquarters.
The Kingston police provided numbers associated with 16 crimes that were reported last year, with sex offences being the most noticeable, having increased by 40 per cent over the previous 12 months.
In 2017, there were 159 sex offences. During 2018, that number grew to 223.
Police Chief Anjte McNeeley told Global News that her team has been trying to improve the reporting process for victims.
“We’re developing an environment that provides an ability to interview victims with softer rooms and we have strong trauma investigators,” said McNeeley.
Another crime category that seen an substantial increase was incidents of break and enter. In 2017, there were 485 reports — that number skyrocketed to 653 in 2018. Many of those incidents happened in the Queen’s University area, according to McNeeley.
The recent statistics have caused Kingston police to reach out to students and the university to help keep their neighbourhood safe.
“We are actively working with Queen’s security to have educational campaigns to ensure students are locking their doors at night and during the day,” said McNeeley.
There were a few decreases in crime in 2018, though: 94 drug offences, which is a five year low; threats were down from 2017 with a number of 161, down 13 from the prior year; and assaults trickled down to 536 in 2018 from 618 in 2017.
Full statistical report:
Crimes against persons
2017: 1,351
2018: 1,362
Crimes Against Property
2017: 5,229
2018: 5,757
Other criminal code offences
2017: 1,185
2018: 1,195
Traffic Criminal Code Offences
2017: 124
2018: 120
Robbery
2017: 33
2018: 37
Criminal Harassment
2017: 91
2018: 137
Harassing phone calls
2017: 230
2018: 240
Theft of Vehicles
2017: 95
2018: 130
Other Thefts
2017: 3,198
2018: 3,390
Fraud
2017: 628
2018: 656
Mischief
2017: 764
2018: 871
According to Kingston police, the stats represent a snapshot in time as at year-end for each year. Coding is subject to change, as some investigations are ongoing.