Survey asks: are you safe?

Almost three of every 10 residents in Kelowna claim they have been a victim of crime in the city within the last year.

Of those, almost half (47%) say they did not report the incident to the police.

Those are just a small portion of results from new survey on public safety and crime commissioned by the city as part of a "deeper dive" in results from the annual Citizen Survey around the subject of safety.

The latest citizen survey indicated more than half of residents identified social issues, specifically poverty and homelessness, as the top issue facing the city. Those issues had a direct impact on the perception of safety in the city.

The second survey, specific to crime and safety was conducted to get a better handle on people's perceptions with their own neighbourhoods, and the city as a whole.

It shows that almost everyone, (99%) feels safe within their own neighbourhood during daylight hours while 98 per cent feel safe at the same time in their own homes.

The most cited reason is a low crime rate.

However, those who considered their neighbourhood to be unsafe pointed primarily to the homeless or drug users are the reason. That was more predominant in the central area, which includes downtown, than other areas of the city.

Overall, people 45 and older were more likely to consider downtown as less safe than those younger residents. Those residents are also less likely to live downtown.

The report concludes the city may want to focus crime prevention on property crimes. The survey shows 24 per cent of residents believe property crime has risen in the neighbourhood over the past year, while almost nine in ten victims of crime had experienced property crime.