Police reported crime is up for the fourth year in a row in Canada but is still lower than a decade ago.
A new report from Statistics Canada shows police reported crime rose by 2% in 2018.
The increase was due to higher rates of fraud, some sexual assaults, shoplifting, and thefts over $5,000.
There were more than 28,700 police reported sexual assaults in 2018, the fourth consecutive annual increase.
A StatsCan official says “The number of sexual assaults reported by police is likely an underestimation of the true extent of sexual assault in Canada, as these types of offences often go unreported to police.”
“There were notable increases in police reported sexual assaults in 2017 and 2018, corresponding in timing to the growing public discussion of issues around sexual violence.”
Canada’s homicide rate fell by 4% in 2018. Police reported 651 homicides, 15 fewer than the previous year.
“Despite the decline, the homicide rate was higher than the Canadian average over the previous decade,” the report said.
The report also found Indigenous people accounted for 5% of Canada’s population in 2018 but 22% of homicide victims.
The number of police reported hate crimes also dropped 13% after a spike in 2017.
Officials say “Even with this decline, the number of hate crimes remains higher (with the exception of 2017) than any other year since 2009, and aligns with the upward trend observed since 2014.”
Nationally, the rate of police reported fraud increased for the seventh year in a row, up 12% to just under 149,000 incidents.
To view the full report visit https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190722/dq190722a-eng.htm?HPA=1
