Crime severity increases for third-straight year
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/10/2020 (1936 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Brandon’s crime severity index rose for the third year in a row in 2019, with violent crimes jumping by a quarter.
The Wheat City finished 2019 with a crime severity index of 129.74, according to Statistics Canada, up from 117.88 in 2018 and 106.66 in 2017.
Violent crime surged by 25 per cent last year over 2018 levels, rising from 117.63 in 2018 to 147.67.
While last year’s numbers show a rise in serious crimes in the city, it’s not something Brandon police Chief Wayne Balcaen said he was surprised to see.
“We had three homicides in 2019 and zero in 2018, and those are scored at a very high level,” he said.
The municipal police service also ran Project Beckon, he said, which led to 20 people facing sexual exploitation charges. The more serious charges laid, the higher the crime severity index for a given year will be.
The recent rise in the city’s crime severity index is in partly fuelled by the drug trade and prevalence of meth in the community, Balcaen said, something seen across Manitoba.
“When I look at some of these crimes, the assaults and assault police officers, I still believe they are fuelled by drugs and or alcohol,” he said.
While Brandon’s crime severity increased considerably in the past year, it is still lower than Manitoba as a whole or Winnipeg, which in 2019 were a respective 139.26 and 131.71. Brandon does see less violent crime than in Winnipeg, Balcaen said, but there are many factors that come into play.
The city also sees far fewer murders each year than Winnipeg, a trend Balcaen said he is glad to see.
The province also leads the country in a national rise in property crimes such as shoplifting and car thefts. Shoplifting rose by 48 per cent in the province in 2019.
While crime severity increased last year, Balcaen said the police service has seen a decrease in violent and property crimes so far in 2020, partly due to the pandemic. As of the end of September, Brandon police had laid 12 per cent fewer charges so far in 2020 compared to the same time frame in 2019.
“It’s hard to say what this pandemic has done nationally, but I can say that we have seen a decrease in overall crime, violent crime and non-violent crime.”
» dmay@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @DrewMay_