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Regina and Saskatoon hold two of the top six spots in the 2021 Crime Severity Index, with Regina at number five and Saskatoon just below at six.
Regina’s census metropolitan area (CMA) was at number three in the country for violent crime severity, but sat further back at number five in non-violent crime severity. The annual index was released Tuesday by Statistics Canada.
Looking at individual crimes, Regina was third for both its robbery and motor vehicle theft rates, but was number one for its homicide rate in 2021 – a record year in the Queen City with 15 homicides.
Regina Police Chief Evan Bray said the numbers show the challenges police face every day.
“I don’t really feel like this is something that Regina has to wear. It’s something that we work on,” said Bray.
“Fifth is not something to jump up and down about, but at the end of the day, I think it shows that this challenging crime … And even though we’re number one in (the homicide) category, we weren’t number one overall. In fact, we weren’t in the top three.”
Bray said there are three main categories Regina’s high rating can be attributed to: homicides, sexual assaults, and break-and-enters.
“The homicide rate has increased steadily over the past five years in the country,” said Bray.
Bray explained that reports of sexual assaults are up, but Regina was only 20th in that category according to the index. The chief admitted property crime has also been a challenge for the police service.
Drug offences in the Regina CMA are way down, with a reduction of 38 per cent year-over-year and an 81 per cent decline compared to 2011. Bray said that is mostly due to how the police service deals with drug offences.
“We have noticeably made a significant change in how we enforce drug-related crime,” Bray said. “We have really backed off laying simple possession charges in the last couple of years.”
Instead, the chief said police in Regina are focused on fighting drug trafficking, which might take thousands of dollars worth of product and paraphernalia off the streets, but tends to garner fewer charges compared with charging every person who is caught with drugs for personal use.
When comparing the Regina CMA to other cities, Bray said guns and drugs have really caused a lot of problems which tend to rank higher in a violent crime index.
“Those drug issues were more than just present in our community. They were impactful, and continue to be impactful,” said Bray.
The chief also spoke about domestic violence and gang violence leading to a lot of the homicides in 2021. Some things can be dealt with in a proactive capacity by police, like impaired driving, but Bray said issues like domestic violence aren’t so easy to tackle through enforcement alone.
“The reasons that lead to domestic violence, a lot of that has to be issues that we work on with community partners,” Bray explained.
“Some of those social challenges aren’t things that the police can control, but hopefully can work with community agencies that, hopefully, can make a positive impact on things.”
In a year-over-year comparison, the Regina CMA saw a six per cent increase in its Crime Severity Index. Bray called 2021 numbers an anomaly, because that year’s numbers are being compared to 2020, which was an odd year for crime during the pandemic.
“Coming out of the pandemic and looking at how behaviours then changed our crime, this is significant, not just for us, but for cities, I would say, across Canada,” said Bray.
Bray pointed instead to the long-term comparison. From 2011 to 2021 the city’s total Crime Severity Index dropped by 11 per cent and the non-violent crime severity index dropped by 20 per cent, but the violent crime index rose by 16 per cent.
Bray said the city has seen some positive changes in the last decade.
“I remember walking into these press conferences before I was chief and when I first started as chief, and all too often we saw the number one in multiple categories,” said Bray.
The Regina CMA has been ranked number one in the Crime Severity Index four times in the past decade, finished second three times, third twice.
Saskatoon Chief Troy Cooper said he’ll spend the next few days going through the report to see if there are lessons to be learned, but the city seems to be heading in the right direction.
“We’re pleased to see that Saskatoon is now at its lowest ranking ever, since they started measuring this way in 1998 in terms of crime severity,” he said.
When compared with other centres, Cooper said Saskatoon is trending in the right direction, particularly when it comes to homicides.
“Saskatoon actually had a reduction in our homicide rates, and that’s helped maintain our position in the overall ranking,” he said.
Locally, Cooper said police are seeing an increase in property crimes, and they’re watching that trend continue into this year.
“As the economy has a downturn, we see an increase in some of those sorts of offences,” Cooper said.
–With files from Lara Fominoff.