Crimes with random victims are increasing in Regina, police say

Crimes against people and property are on the rise in the Queen City, according to the latest numbers released by the Regina Police Service (RPS).

So far in 2023, there have been 473 more crimes committed on people, a 26.4 per cent increase from the same time last year, numbers from a board of police commissioners meeting on Tuesday revealed.

According to RPS, most of the increase is robberies and assaults between individuals with no prior connection to one another.

“So the victim and the accused are not known to each other, they are essentially strangers,” interim Chief Dean Rae said. “So we have people that are committing robberies on individuals, whether it’s a street robbery or whatever the case may be, they don’t know those people so it’s random,” Rae added.

The meeting revealed that in August, police knew of 43 robberies throughout Regina.

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“There were 43 reported robberies in August for a year-to-date increase of 61 incidents or an increase of 37.2 per cent,” a report from the meeting says.

Crimes against property also rose by 10. 5 per cent in the first eight months of 2023 compared to 2022, the meeting revealed.

That includes a year-to-date increase of 430 incidents of theft under $5,000, a report from the meeting showed.

The report shows there have also been 279 more reports of mischief or wilful damage so far in 2023 than there were over the same period last year.

However, vehicle thefts have seen a year-to-date decrease of 65 incidents, the report said.

Overall, calls for service to police are also up 9.6 per cent from August of last year, RPS found.

“There were a total of 7,735 dispatched Calls for Service in August for a year-to-date increase of 9.6 per cent,” the report from the meeting read.

-- With files from Hallee Mandryk.