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As the world dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, Regina saw a major decrease in crime last year.
According to the crime stats released at the Board of Police Commissioners meeting Tuesday, crime in Regina was down 27 per cent compared to 2019 and was at the lowest point it has been since 2014.
There were 17,992 crimes reported in 2020, not including traffic and drug violations. There were 24,650 incidents in 2019, the highest point in the 10-year span given.
Police Chief Evan Bray said he doesn’t have a crystal ball to know if these trends will continue but admits COVID and the public health restrictions have had an effect.
“COVID is responsible for some changes in behaviour. Whether or not that is directly linked to crime stats or the behaviour of individuals in our city, I think it would be naive to think it wasn’t affected that way,” Bray said.
He said people want to see the COVID challenge go away and have things opened up.
“When that happens, I think there will be more people out and about, there will be more people in businesses, there will be activity that will present new and different challenges perhaps to our police service versus what we’re seeing now,” Bray said.
Bray said some of the things police have noticed is that as more people do online shopping, officers are responding to more calls about parcels getting stolen.
Bray also said businesses have seen fewer incidents of shoplifting because stores are either closed or have fewer people inside.
There were 2,938 reported cases of crime against persons in 2020. That was a four per cent decline compared to 2019 and two per cent less than in 2011.
Last year, there were 11 murders, an increase from nine in 2019. That was tied with 2013 for the most in the past 10 years.
There were 186 sexual assaults reported in 2020 compared to a 10-year average of 149.
Crime against property experienced a 35 per cent drop last year. There were 10,437 incidents in 2020 compared to 15,952 in 2019.
Thefts of motor vehicles were also down by quite a bit, with 827 incidents in 2020. There were 1,451 the year before.
Arson continued to rise last year, with 245 reported. The 10-year average is 125.
While possession of methamphetamines was down last year, it was still far above the 10-year average. There were 81 incidents in 2020, with the average being 42.9.
There was a 27 per cent decrease in total crime in the city last year.
15 officers have tested positive for COVID
Bray said there have been 15 cases where a person in the police service has tested positive for COVID, which led to them isolating before coming to work. All, except for one or two still isolating, have returned to work.
Bray said he thinks about 50 per cent of the cases were contracted on duty while the other half was contracted off duty.
January 2021 stats
According to January 2021 crime stats released at the meeting, Regina police have dealt with 336 fewer combined crimes against persons and crimes against property compared to the first month of 2020.
There were 43 fewer crimes against persons in 2021 so far, a 17.4 per cent decrease from the same month last year. Crimes against property saw a decrease of 29.8 per cent, or 293 incidents.
Thefts under $5,000 were down nearly half, with a 42.6 per cent decrease.
There also were 11 fewer robberies in the city compared to last January, with 14 taking place last month.
Murders decreased by 50 per cent from last year, with only two occurring in January. However, there were four attempted murder charges laid in 2021, up from zero last January.
Sexual assaults were down by a large margin (76.9 per cent) but Level Three assaults — the most severe — are up 125 per cent.
In January, police received 139 COVID calls with 11 COVID tickets sent out.
The Board of Police Commissioners agenda and crime stats can be found here.