Pubdate: Fri, 21 Jun 2013
Source: Nanaimo Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Nanaimo Daily News
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1608
Author: Spencer Anderson

CRIME SEVERITY INDEX DIPS IN CITY

Liquor violations throughout Nanaimo plunged from January to March,
compared to numbers in 2012

Crime trends were mostly stagnant in the first quarter of this year,
but liquor violations and other violations saw some big shifts.

That's according to a quarterly police report presented by Nanaimo
RCMP Supt. Norm McPhail at Nanaimo council this week. McPhail reported
Nanaimo has seen a 4.3 per cent dip in its crime severity index, just
short of an RCMP E Division target of five per cent for the city.

He said there are promising trends, such as an uptick in victim
services usage and a decline in the number of young offenders, which
has been on a downward trend over two years.

One of the brighter patches of his report included a 60 per cent drop
in liquor violations throughout the city from January to March of this
year compared to the same period in 2012. In real numbers, offences
plunged from 327 to 130.

"We've still got our Bar Watch strategy in place, we're still doing
our foot patrols, but there just doesn't seem (to be) the prevalence
of tickets needing to be issued under liquor violations," he said.

Drug enforcement measures also dipped 40 per cent to 101 incidents
from 169.

"This reflects directly on medical marijuana licensing," said McPhail.
He said an increased prevalence of legal licences to grow medical
marijuana has curtailed enforcement action.

"There's not enforcement to the degree when there's licensing, so
there's not a need to focus (as much) on that," he said.

But police saw crime inch upwards in other areas. Crimes against
persons increased to 227 from 203 the previous year, and property
crimes also increased to 1,091 from 1,022 the year before.

Violence in relationships also increased by four to reach 238
incidents in the first quarter of 2013.

Non-fatal pedestrian injuries from crashes are climbed to 61 incidents
from 55 the year before, an 11 per cent increase. McPhail said police
attribute that increase to weather and distracted driving. The number
of fatal crashes totalled two, up from one last year. Seat belt
violations dropped 65 incidents between January and March, down from
118 in 2012. But impaired driving and immediate roadside prohibitions
climbed to 116 from 57. That's partly due to provincial legislation
that came back into effect in late 2012, McPhail said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt