There is more serious crime in Yorkton for the second straight year. Statistics Canada released the crime severity index statistics for 2016, and it saw Yorkton increase by ten per cent, going from 135.14 to 149.47.
The majority of that increase was due to a jump in violent crime, which increased 34.70 per cent, going from 143.35 to 193.09. Non-violent crime remained steady, with a one per cent increase, from 131.88 to 133.28. This is the second straight year of CSI increases in the city.
According to Statistics Canada, to calculate the actual Crime Severity Index, the number of police-reported incidents for each offence is multiplied by the weight for that offence. All weighted offences are then added together and divided by the corresponding population total.
To make the Index easier to interpret, the Index is standardized to “100” for Canada (a system that is similar to the Consumer Price Index), using 2006 as a base year.
According to Staff Sgt Jeff Simpson, the main reason behind the large jump in the city was a murder in 2016. Since there were no murders in 2015, it had a significant impact on the city’s violent crime numbers.
“Serious crimes at the higher end of the spectrum really skew the numbers... That one homicide really carries a lot of weight in the index.”
The other reason for relatively large changes in CSI numbers in Yorkton comes down to having a relatively small population and, as a result, relatively low numbers of crimes.
“For example, if you had one or two extra aggravated assaults in Saskatoon, it would hardly register on the index at all, whereas a handful of serious crimes in Yorkton would send the CSI shooting up.”
While the murder is the big cause of the jump in numbers, there have also been increases in aggravated assaults, sexual assaults and robberies, all three of which are a driver of the violent crime increase. There were, however, decreases in mischief, arson, disturbing the peace and theft.
That said, Simpson says that the RCMP still takes violent crime in the city very seriously, and is doing work to address the root causes.
“We have a number of different programs and community initiatives throughout the year that we do to reach out to community partners, to attempt to educate in different things, different strategic enforcement problems. Sometimes serious crimes like a homicide are a difficult crime to prevent, but we do have a number of different programs.”
The RCMP takes different approaches in getting to the root causes of crime and working to prevent it as well as educate people, Simpson explained.
“We had an initiative to identify and combat domestic violence. We brought in speakers and we did an educational program night, supper and presentation to people who are working in the beauty profession... Who have an opportunity to build on a trusting relationship with their clients and provide them with some information with regards to domestic violence and the services that are available... Just an example of one of the things we do to try to address some of these pieces through education and through enforcement.”
As the second year in a row for an increase in the CSI, Simpson has some theories as to why Yorkton has seen a crime increase in the past couple of years.
“Yorkton still is a growing city. An economic downturn will typically have an impact on crime rates. We’re still in a bit of a recovery mode, the province is still cutting back on services provincially in budgets. When people find themselves in positions where there is maybe loss of jobs or something like that, mixed with substance abuse, addictions problems or whatever the case is, typically the crime rate sees a positive increase. Property crime, even persons crime as relationships get strained... I think it’s based on the economy on the economy, I think it’s based on growth, I think it’s based on substance abuse whether it’s alcohol or narcotics. I think there’s a whole trifecta of things that are impacting on some of these increases.”
Simpson is optimistic about the numbers for 2017.
“Property crime across the division is down for the first half of 2017. Violent crime remains essentially static, there hasn’t been a huge increase in that across the province, but a homicide or two will carry a significant amount of weight. At the end of the day the RCMP is responsive, based on these kinds of statistics we focus our efforts and target our resources.”
Simpson says that the way to combat crime is to work within the community to deal with the root causes of the crime in the city.
