Overall reports of crime in 2017 was down four per cent over 2016, in Richmond, with Mounties reporting improvements in property crime tempered by an uptick in homicide investigations and the number of violent crime incidents remaining nearly the same.
Overall, based on 2016 Statistics Canada figures, Richmond has a slightly higher crime rate than the national average but is well below the provincial average. Last year’s data has yet to be compiled nationally.
In 2017, serious assaults went up 16 per cent, to 157, and sexual offences rose 23 per cent, to 101, over 2016. However, those figures — along with a 29 per cent decrease in robberies, to only 60 all year — fluctuate widely (by percentage change) because Richmond has such a low violent crime rate.
Richmond recorded eight homicide investigations in 2017, whereas in 2016 there was only one, according to Statistics Canada.
Last year, property crimes dropped four per cent overall. Residential break and enters rose eight per cent, to 653. In 2014 they had peaked in recent years, with 981 such incidents.
Meanwhile thefts from auto dropped 10 per cent, to 2,193, and general thefts dropped 12 per cent, to 1,080.
In 2017, drug offences dropped 12 per cent, to 690. However, calls to police determined to be related to the Mental Health Act rose four per cent, to 1,448.
In 2016, Richmond ranked 86th out of 229 jurisdictions in Canada for having the highest crime rate.
The crime rate is actually called the Crime Severity Index (CSI), which weighs the severity of police-reported crimes per capita.
Richmond’s overall CSI was 76 while the national average was 71. However, Richmond’s Violent CSI was 44, while the national average was 75.
