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Kelowna  

Crime rate falls 13 per cent

 

Kelowna is no longer the crime capital of Canada.

Figures released by Statistics Canada Wednesday morning show the crime rate in Kelowna fell 13 per cent in 2013 to 7,680 police reported crimes per 100,000 population.

The crime severity index, which assigns weighted values based on the severity of each crime, also fell 12 per cent in the Kelowna metropolitan area, to 92.6.

The metropolitan stretches from Peachland to Oyama.

A year ago, Kelowna had the number one crime rate in Canada with many crime categories showing a major upward trend while nationally and in most metropolitan areas, the rate fell, in many areas, significantly.

Regina and Saskatoon finished one/two in Canada in both crime rate and crime severity index.

The lowest crime rate in Canada can be found in Toronto with just 2,941 crimes reported per 100,000 population, nearly 5,000 fewer than in Kelowna.

Nationally, the crime rate fell eight per cent to 5,190 reported crimes per 100,000 people while the crime severity index fell nine per cent to 68.7.

BC is third in the country with 7,454 crimes reported per 100,000 people (down six per cent) and a crime severity index of 89.2 (also down six per cent).

Only Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the three territories have higher crime rates than BC.

Metropolitan Kelowna has by far the highest crime rate and crime severity index in BC.

The city reported nearly 800 more crimes per 100,000 people than Vancouver and nearly 1,600 more than Abbotsford/Mission.

One year ago, incoming RCMP Supt. Nick Romanchuk was about to take over a detachment with the number one crime rate in Canada.

At the time Romanchuk has stated his goal was to ensure the greater Kelowna area was never again mentioned in a StatsCan report on crime unless it was for being recognized for significant improvements.



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