Saskatoon crime rates fall, but still among highest in Canada

The crime rates in Saskatoon fell in 2009, but the city still has one of the highest rates of Canada’s 32 census metropolitan areas.

According to a Statistics Canada report released this week, the total crime rate in Saskatoon fell by six per cent from 2008 to 2009, but the City of Bridges remains No. 2 in the CSI.

Following Regina and Saskatoon in the CSI rankings were Winnipeg, Kelowna and Edmonton. Overall, Saskatchewan and Manitoba led the provinces with the highest CSI.

The three lowest crime rates were found in Guelph, Quebec City and Toronto.

In Saskatoon, robberies were down four per cent, break-and-enters were up one per cent and motor-vehicle thefts rose by five per cent. In 2009, there were six homicides in Saskatoon’s metropolitan area.

The Violent Crime Severity Index dropped by six per cent, while the Non-Violent Severity Crime Index fell by four per cent.

In Regina, break and enters were down 16 per cent, motor-vehicle thefts were down 22 per cent and violent crime was down two per cent with a 50-per-cent reduction in the number of murders and a four-per-cent drop in robberies.

In Saskatchewan, the Youth Crime Severity Index dropped by seven per cent. Saskatchewan’s Youth CSI ranks fourth-highest in the country and tops among provinces. Only Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Yukon had higher Youth CSI.

Across the country, the crime rate fell three per cent in 2009.

Among the smaller communities, the highest crime rates were found in North Battleford and Quesnel, B.C. The highest violent crime rates were in Quesnel and Thompson, Man.

Canada’s crime rate continues to drop, but the number of attempted murders, firearms and drunk driving offences increased last year, according to the report.

Nearly 2.2 million crimes were reported to police in Canada in 2009, approximately 43,000 fewer than were reported in 2008, Statistics Canada said.

The crime rate, a measure of the volume of crime reported to police, fell three per cent in 2009 and was 17 per cent lower than a decade ago.

The Crime Severity Index (CSI), a measure of the seriousness of police-reported crime, declined four per cent in 2009 and stood 22 per cent lower than in 1999.

But violent crimes – everything from harassing phone calls to murder – accounted for one in five crimes last year.

"Police-reported violent crime in Canada is also declining, but to a lesser extent than overall crime," Statistics Canada noted.

Police recorded about 443,000 violent crimes last year. Some types of violent crime actually increased year over year – for example, there were 806 more attempted murders in 2009 than 2008. The homicide rate, however, held steady: 610 were reported in 2009.

The number of drunk driving cases also went up. Statistics Canada reported.

Following 25 years of general decline, impaired driving offences increased for the third consecutive year, up three per cent in 2009.

In July 2008, new legislation came into effect enabling police to conduct mandatory roadside testing and assessment of suspected drug-impaired drivers. Of the 89,000 incidents of impaired driving in 2009, just over 1,400 were reported by police to have been drug-impaired driving.