Regina reports 20 per cent decrease in crime severity from 2019 to 2020
The Regina area has recorded a drop in the severity of reported crimes from 2019 to 2020, according to the latest figures from the Canadian Centre for Justice.
Regina reported a 20 per cent drop, the most significant decrease among census metropolitan areas (CMA). On Tuesday morning, the Regina Police Service presented the latest details on the crime severity index.
Police say this is largely due to a decline in break and enters, theft under $5,000, theft of vehicles and fraud.
The police chief says the pandemic changed people’s behaviours – which reduced the opportunity for a lot of crime.
“We saw property crime decreased significantly in 2020 and we’ve talked about that through the pandemic about how just the difference in behaviour, people working from home and businesses being closed down, has really allowed for a decrease in property-related crime in our community,” Regina Police Chief Evan Bray said.
The Regina CMA saw an 11 per cent increase in drug-related crimes from 2019 to 2020.
Bray says this is partially to do with extra enforcement being put on these investigations - but also because Regina is experiencing a major drug problem.
“Overdoses were at an all-time high,” Bray recalled. “We ended the year with over 1,200 overdoses in the year, approximately 10 per cent of those were fatal, which is a serious number and that’s a number that is very unique to our city.”
Out of the provinces and territories, Saskatchewan rated number three in homicide ratings at 5.09 - behind the Northwest Territories at 13.29 and Nunavut at 7.62
Saskatchewan ranked fourth in attempted murders with a rating of 3.90 - behind Nunavut at 17.79, the Yukon at 7.13 and Nova Scotia at 4.80. The province was also rated the highest in methamphetamine charges with a rate of 92.
Chief Bray said overall these numbers are down, but as restrictions lift across the country, Canada may see an increase in 2021 numbers.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.