Stats show violent crime in Prince Rupert drops overall

Statistics Canada put out their annual crime stats recently, detailing incidents at the federal, provincial and municipal levels.

Numbers are measured by actual incidents, as well as a crime severity index which puts more weight on violent crimes. By this measure, Prince Rupert’s violent crime severity index dropped by 18 per cent from 2017 to 2018. Much of this was due to the fact that last year saw no homicides in the city, while 2017 saw one person charged over a pair of homicides.

There was however a 30 per cent increase in incidents of Level 1 Assaults, with 319 in 2018 after 245 in 2017. So far 208 of these incidents have been resolved, resulting in 139 people being charged.

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Level 2 Assaults, those with a weapon or causing bodily harm, went down by 15 per cent to 49 total. 29 incidents have been resolved leading to 26 charges. Level 3 Assaults, also known as aggravated assaults, recurred in Prince Rupert though after zero in 2017. Six people were charged in six incidents.

Level 1 Sexual Assault incidents went up to 22 from 18 after two straight years of decline. 10 of these have been resolved which has led to eight people being charged. There were no cases of Level 2 or 3 Sexual Assaults in 2018.

READ MORE: Sexual assaults, extortion on the rise even as crime rates stay low: Stats Canada

The non-violent crime severity index saw a spike in Prince Rupert, going up 24 per cent from the previous year. This was mainly due to the fact that break and enters hit their highest total since 2015, up 56 per cent to 56 total in 2018. 12 people have been charged so far as a result.

Criminal Code Traffic Violations noticed a slight uptick in actual incidents, with 57 total up from 52. 18 people have been charged so far, 15 of which were for impaired driving.

Overall in British Columbia the non-violent crime severity index went up by one per cent, while the violent crime severity index went down by just over 1.5 per cent.