Homicides, attempted murder, theft continues to cause concern for Regina police

Homicides in the Queen City continue to be top of mind for the Regina Police Service.

So far this year, there have been four homicides. There were nine in all of 2019 and seven in 2018.

Attempted murders are also an ongoing issue. There were 37 attempted murders in 2019, up from 18 in 2018. There have been six attempted murders this year, three charges have been made.

“A lot of it had to do with firearms and the commission of assault and the result, obviously, is quite more serious when you’re talking about the use of a firearm versus physical assault,” said Chief Evan Bray, Regina Police Service.

Assaults are something else Regina police are keeping their eye on. Police reported 1,178 assaults in 2019 and 1,298 in 2018.

Those numbers don’t include sexual assaults. There were 192 sexual assaults in 2019 and 200 assaults in 2018.

There were 58 sexual-related crimes in 2019 and 53 in 2018.

Police reported 299 robberies in 2019 and 272 in 2018. There were 30 kidnappings/forcible confinement crimes in 2019 and 17 in 2018.

“Overall, there are crime challenges in the city. We talk about that on a regular basis. A lot of it is driven by drugs and to some degree gang activity,” Bray said.

“Addictions and drugs are predominately what’s behind both our crimes against person and property crime.”

Crimes against property continue to be a concern for police

Regina police reported 15,861 crimes against property in 2019 and 14,765 in 2018.

Among those crimes, there were 2,058 break and enters in 2019 and 2,148 in 2018.

Also included in those numbers are vehicles thefts. Police reported 1,270 vehicle thefts in 2019 and 1,406 in 2018.

“This trend is not unique to us in Regina. This is very much in the forefront of news across Canada. When I talk to other police services and police chiefs, they’re dealing with very similar issues,” Bray said.

“It’s the same three…drugs, guns and gangs that are causing challenges.”

There were also 7640 theft under $5,000 incidences reported in 2019 and 6,807 in 2018.

1:17 Camera found in Tim Hortons washroom, man charged with voyeurism