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Over the first six months of 2019, Regina’s number of attempted murder charges was more than double the 10-year average for the statistic.
The Regina Police Service released the information as part of its biannual data update on crime in the city.
The service laid 23 attempted murder charges through the first half of the year. At the same time last year, it had laid five charges; the 10-year average is 7.5.
Police Chief Evan Bray attributed the stat to the many gun incidents that have happened this year. Firing a gun at someone, even if the bullet doesn’t hit the intended target, can still result in an attempted murder charge, he explained.
“I don’t know if we go a night where we don’t hear about some firearm-related offence happening in our city. Five years ago, that wasn’t happening,” he said Thursday during a media conference at police headquarters.
The next-highest half-year was in 2016, when police had laid 16 attempted murder charges by its midway point.
This year’s number of homicides so far (five) is near the 10-year average (4.1).
Bray emphasized that gun crimes aren’t necessarily one-off, isolated incidents; he said suspects who commit the crimes are often dealing with addiction issues, may possibly be involved with a gang, and may have been “historically victimized.”
He said that despite the increase of gun incidents, that doesn’t mean there is a glut of guns in Regina.
“They’re not used in one offence and then thrown in the garbage. Oftentimes, if a firearm is used in an offence, it’s going to be used in multiple (incidents),” he said. “It’s almost like in the drug world, too … seizures and charges don’t necessarily match.”
Regina’s total crime for the first half of 2019 was up by 16.5 per cent, or by 1,581 charges to 11,186. The number doesn’t include traffic and drug crimes.
Drug crimes dip; no pot charges yet
One notable drop in numbers was in the drug crimes section.
Police laid 174 charges through the first six months of the year; they laid 301 charges in the same time period in 2018. The 10-year average is 264.4 charges in the first half of a year.
The data report states “changes to marijuana-related legislation and enforcement practices will continue to impact future trends.”
“Basically since the talk of legalization started, we started to see a decline in the number of marijuana-related charges,” Bray said. “For example, in 2017 we had 186; in 2018 up until legalization date, we had 107 (charges).”
Since pot was legalized on Oct. 15, Bray said, “We’ve had none.”
The same goes for impaired driving charges involving pot.
“We have not laid an impaired driving charge, strictly as a result of marijuana use,” he said.