The South Okanagan Similkameen Regional RCMP Detachment is reporting a drop in crime across the board during the past three months when pandemic-related restrictions were in place.
In a second-quarter report (April-June 2020) to be presented to Penticton city council on Tuesday, Supt. Brian Hunter says total reported crime events in the municipality for the quarter was 1,751, which is down 19 per cent from last year (2,174).
The change is driven largely by the decrease in property crime, Hunter said, which went from 1,380 to 1,055 — a decrease of 24 per cent from the same reporting period last year.
Hunter doesn’t attribute the coronavirus pandemic restrictions on movement in his report, but says several chronic offenders have been arrested.
“Recidivism in the community remains a problem,” Hunter said.
More specifically, assaults are down 11 per cent, sex offences down 25 per cent and domestic violence down 23 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same period last year.
On the property crime front, auto theft is down 58 per cent, break and enters and shoplifting are down 54 per cent and bike thefts are down 32 per cent from April-June 2020 compared to the same time in 2019.
The top three calls for service include disturbances (334) theft (307) and unwanted persons (306).
The Penticton detachment received 5,100 calls for service from April to June 2020.
The decline in crime is a trend playing out globally as cities report stunning crime drops in the weeks since measures were put into place to slow the spread of the virus.