Prince Rupert finds increased levels of activity from Crime Severity Index in the Northwest

Prince Rupert Mounties had a busy 2019 as the latest
results from Statistics Canada indicate

The annual review of Crime from Stats Canada offers up an indication that the members of the Prince Rupert Detachment of the RCMP were among the busiest in the Northwest in 2019 the most recent year for data collection. 

The Prince Rupert statistical review indicates that Prince Rupert Mounties lost a bit of ground in crime fighting in the last few years with the numbers increasing in each of the last four years.

In the most recent review, Prince Rupert realized a 33 per cent increase in the Overall Crime Severity Index from the 2019 Stats Canada Crime results compilation.

The report from the nation's Statistic gathering resource uses data which is drawn from the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, a census of all crime known to police services. The report observes that the Police-reported crime statistics conform to a nationally approved set of common crime categories and definitions.

In the data released in late October Prince Rupert City was assessed an index of 187.72 a jump of 40 points from 2018; making for a surge of 33.72 percent from the year previous.

The  findings were mirrored by the numbers for the Violent Crime Severity Index which saw Prince Rupert assessed a mark of 252.74, which is up significantly from last years review when the city was pegged at 188.84 on the Index. or a 33.84 percent increase from 2018's numbers.

Non Violent crimes as well were on the rise in 2019, with the City rating a 163.89 on the Index, which also makes for a 33.67 percent increase from the results received in 2018.

The StatsCanada data also indicates declines in clearances for case files at the detachment in 2019, with a 27.34 percent decline in the clearing of files, with less success on violent clearance rates than with the non violent files.

Statistics related to Youth Crime in the community were not included in the October release of information, a theme which has been prevalent in the release of data for a few years now.

For Prince Rupert there were 3,145 incidents of all type recorded in 2019, up significantly from the 2,378 recorded in 2018. 

The increase was even more concerning for the Prince Rupert Rural statistical review, with a rating of 273.18 on the Crime Severity Index an increase of 55.76 percent from the 2018 review.

The data release for policing outside of the urban area of Prince Rupert can be viewed here.

Across the Northwest the results were quite varied

Terrace continues to top the regional listings with a Crime Severity Index for 2019 of 208.96 a 23 percent change upwards in the findings from a year ago. (see full chart here)

Smithers  was assessed a ranking of 165.26 on the Crime Severity Index for 2019 an increase of 18.69 percent. (see full chart here)

Kitimat saw just a slight increase for their review for the year, with a Crime Severity Index of 100.13 marking just an 8.66 percent increase from the previous findings. (see full chart here)

The Stats Canada documentation includes reviews of all the rural areas surrounding the major  communities of the Northwest as well as for Haida Gwaii.

You can explore the statistics for the region from the searchable tables here.

An overview of the findings and trends for across Canada is available here. 

The last time that Prince Rupert City Council had a member of the local detachment in to discuss themes of law enforcement in the community was at the end of 2019. 

An overview from Council that for the most part declared that Prince Rupert  remained a safe city. 

At that time, it was noted that with Prince Rupert having a small population, that one or two increases in some categories, could spike the overall statistics for the city.

You can get a glimpse of some of the work that makes up the daily efforts for the members of the Northwest detachments through our Emergency Responders Archive page here.