Crime rates are dropping in Edmonton overall despite a small increase nationwide, but fraud and extortion are on the rise and the severity of violent crimes are going up.
New data from Statistics Canada shows the rates for all types of crime dropped 11 per cent in the city of Edmonton last year and increased more than three per cent nationwide compared to 2022. City police announced the local crime dip at a news conference Wednesday, highlighting areas where they have seen success and areas where there is still more work to be done.
Property crime saw one of the most dramatic changes, dropping 15 per cent largely due to a decline in catalytic converter thefts, Ron Anderson, chief innovation and technology officer for the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) told reporters Wednesday.
“Make no mistake, these are very positive results, and they are driven largely by the proactive measures our officers are taking and the partnerships we’ve established with community members, the public, as well as our elected officials,” he said. “Both EPS and its valued partners must continue to walk in this direction while remaining flexible so we can address crime as it changes.”
Thefts under $5,000 from motor vehicles were down 27.5 per cent in 2023 from the year previous, one of the most common crimes reported.
Seven other common crimes also declined, including failure to comply with an order, shoplifting under $5,000, mischief, breaking and entering, assault without a weapon, theft under $5,000, and motor vehicle theft.
As for why rates are going down, Anderson pointed to the Edmonton Police Foundation’s community accelerator program that looked for solutions to catalytic converter thefts, EPS’ focus on addressing social disorder in the city’s downtown core and on public transit, the province’s navigation centre for homeless people displaced from encampments, and city council’s reinstatement of a funding formula for police as contributing to the declining rate.
“When we have a stable funding formula, whether that’s the city or provincial grant programs that go on multiple years, that allows us to plan both staffing and employment models over a longer period of time,” he said. “If we know what our funding will be next year and the year after we can plan our recruiting and training … and we can plan our overall crime management for the entire city.”
The violent crime severity index, which looks at the volume of crime relative to severity, was up 4 per cent, continuing an upward climb in the city since 2015.
Anderson said this is primarily because of the increase in crimes involving firearms and weapons, many of them committed by repeat offenders.
“EPS will continue to address violent crimes through meaningful initiatives such as the safer public spaces, and targeted police and partnership deployments while making adjustments as the data tells us to,” he said.
But while crime rates per 100,000 people are down, extortions went up nearly 25 per cent last year and frauds, overall, climbed more than seven per cent.
Many of the extortions are part of what police are calling Project Gaslight, a string of shootings and arsons targeting members of the city’s South Asian community for money, particularly homebuilders.
Insp. Tim Horon said fraud is up across the country, including cybercrimes.
“Whether it’s through romance scams, different ways they are attacking a vulnerable community who is not prepared for this, the biggest thing we urge with this is education — education around the methods that the fraudsters will use to try to impact our community,” he said.
“We know that it causes millions of dollars of loss every year and impacts everyone in our community that we’re aware of.”
While Canada has seen a spike in hate crimes, according to EPS there wasn’t much of a change locally.
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Meanwhile, local police were under public scrutiny for other matters on Wednesday.