Thunder Bay remains one of the most crime plagued cities in Canada, despite recording the most significant crime severity index decline in the country from the previous year.
The city’s 2015 overall crime severity index figure remains among the top-10 highest of the 33 metropolitan areas even after it dropped by 11 per cent drop from 2014 but the violent crime index remains the second-highest in the nation, according to figures released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday.
After having the highest violent crime index in the country in 2014, Thunder Bay’s index of 119.6 represents a 14 per cent drop and now has the second-highest score behind Winnipeg.
The national index, which weighs the seriousness of crimes with the total number of police-reported offences, rose for the first time in 12 years with eight of the 13 provinces and territories reporting an increase. Twenty of the 33 metropolitan areas also went up.
In 2014 Thunder Bay’s index spiked after experiencing an unprecedented 11 homicides, recording the highest murder rate in the country.
The score was bound to decrease with only three such cases in 2015, though Thunder Bay Police Service spokesman Chris Adams said it is not dependent on deaths.
“Homicides are obviously very high because there is such a human cost but there are other violent crimes like robberies that will affect that number,” he said.
“For us in 2015 compared to 2014, there were at least 30 or 40 more cases of robberies that were occurring. These were cases that were sometimes very minor to sometimes more dramatic.”
The city’s overall crime rate, the number of police-reported criminal offences per 100,000 population, declined by six per cent.
While the police analyze the report, the numbers are already dated with nearly seven months passing this year.
“When we analyze it we’ll look at it and certainly we will compare it to some of the projects we’ve undertaken and enforcement efforts but really, most of what is done in policing is done in a more immediate manner,” Adams said.
There is only so much police can do to stop crime before it happens, Adams added.
There are multiple factors that contribute to crime that need to be addressed to even start to talk about prevention.
“The bigger picture for us is the work that’s happening with our partner agencies in the community because this violent crime has roots that are very deep,” Adams said.
“They run into social issues, poverty and homelessness. There is a lot of stuff that’s in the background that causes violent crime.”
