The annual crime report from Statistics Canada shows Guelph boasting some impressive numbers in 2019, compared to the previous year.
The overall crime rate fell five per cent from 2018 to 2019 and has ticked up just two per cent since 2009.
StatsCan said the city saw significant decreases in the rate of break-ins and vehicle thefts, which were down 29 per cent and 10 per cent respectively when compared to the previous year.
Guelph did see a 27 per cent increase when it came to fraud-related offences.
Overall, the city’s rate of violent crime, property crime and drug offences all fell year-over-year.
The city’s total crime severity index, which takes into account the number of all crimes and weighs them based on severity, saw a nine per cent reduction, one of the largest decreases in Canada.
It is the first time since 2013 that the city saw a reduction in the crime severity index.
Guelph boasted the lowest violent crime severity index in all of Canada after it saw the largest decrease in the country at 17 per cent. StatsCan said this was driven by decreases in sexual violations against children, assault and extortion.
For the second year in a row, Guelph reported no homicides in 2019, but in 2020 the city has had two investigations that both resulted in arrests.
Canada’s crime severity index increased by five per cent in 2019. It’s the fifth consecutive annual increase but is nine per cent lower than a decade earlier.
Ontario’s crime severity index remained unchanged from 2018 to 2019.
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