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Prince Rupert RCMP says ranking doesn't show drop in crime stats

Prince Rupert RCMP say crime has dropped over the past year, despite being in the top 10 in the Crime Severity Index.

The Prince Rupert RCMP say that while the city had the eighth highest crime severity index in the country according to figures released last month by Stats Canada, it's important to not the number actually dropped from last year.

In the previous year Prince Rupert also ranked eighth, but this year the overall CSI dropped 8.07 points, or 4.25 per cent, while non-violent crime dropped 11.66 per cent.

"For the Prince Rupert RCMP Detachment this was a significant achievement," said Cst. Matt Ericson in a statement from the local detachment.

"The largest contributor to the decline in these statistics is largely the Prince Rupert RCMP's members themselves.  Often these members go above and beyond their call of duty and remain after hours to complete files, apply for search warrants and in some cases attend the detachment on their days off to complete their investigations.  These members are valued assets, and are dedicated to the community of Prince Rupert."

However, the detachment acknowledges that the violent crime increased year-over-year, but say that is attributed to "a local group attempting to break into the drug trade, however this group has dispersed.

Overall, the RCMP refute the claims that Prince Rupert is one of the 10 most dangerous places to live in Canada.

"It is our belief that the City of Prince Rupert is and will continue to be a safe community and that this has been demonstrated in the downward trend in crime.  The Prince Rupert RCMP is committed to promoting safe homes and safe communities and that we can build on our current success by being proactive with this strategy by preventing crime in the onset rather than the outset," said Ericson.

"We would like to remind the community that these numbers are very subjective and do not take into account the repetitious nature of certain offences which are evaluated on a per capita basis."