Safety concerns in downtown Kelowna on the rise, survey says

A growing number of people feel unsafe in Kelowna’s most urban neighbourhoods, according to recent city-wide survey results.

The Community Safety report headed to a Kelowna City Council meeting on Monday shows that 21 per cent of residents feel unsafe in Rutland, compared to 14 per cent in 2019.

Similarly, 41 per cent of survey respondents feel unsafe in the city’s downtown, compared to 31 per cent in 2019. That said, slightly mitigating that figure, only 13 per cent of people claimed to feel unsafe in the Leon and Lawrence Avenue area, compared to 22 per cent who expressed that view three years earlier.

Overall, however, people generally feel secure in the Okanagan city.

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During the recent survey, 96 per cent of residents said they continue to feel safe in their neighborhoods during the day compared to 99 per cent in 2019.  Even at night, 82 per cent say they felt safe at night compared to 77 per cent earlier.

However, the number of people who say they’ve been a victim of crime has fallen to 25 per cent from 28 per cent since 2019, the survey says. Of those who identified themselves as victims, 91 per cent said they’d been the victim of a property crime while nine percent said they’d been the victim of a violent crime.

An estimated 52 per cent of crime victims said they hadn’t reported the incident to police, a six per cent increase since 2019.

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“Information and data aid in monitoring and evaluating achievements in community safety,” reads the report.

“While the Community Safety Survey is statistically valid, it serves as one of a number of metrics used to identify levels of safety and crime within our community. Survey results will continue to inform decisions for addressing local issues related to crime, victimization and community safety and will be utilized as one of many baseline measurements for Kelowna’s five-year Community Safety Plan.”