The number of violent crimes and property crimes recorded in Surrey both dropped by four per cent in 2019’s fourth quarter compared to its third quarter, according to the latest RCMP statistics, while the total number of Criminal Code offences dropped by six per cent to 11,472 from 12,173.
All told, the police recorded 2,104 violent crimes in the fourth compared to 2,197 in the third. And the number of property crimes fell to
6,974 from 7,292.
Broken down by category, there were four homicides in the fourth quarter compared to six in the third; the number of attempted murders dropped to four from seven; the number of robberies rose to 125 from 102; and the number of assaults dropped to 1,022 from 1,o87.
Moreover, there were 121 sexual offences reported in the fourth and 120 in the third, and 11 abductions/kidnappings compared to 22.
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There were 303 business break-ins compared to 301, and 302 residential break-ins compared to 275, making for 692 break-ins in the fourth quarter and 668 in the third.
The number of cases of auto theft climbed to 479 from 354, and the number of offensive weapons cases dropped to 84 from 104.
Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards, who took over the helm of the Surrey RCMP one month ago, noted that while the number of shots fired reports increased to 45 in 2019 from 38 in 2018, the city is “still down significantly,” by 49 per cent, “from the high of 88 shots fired in 2015.”
Shoplifting cases were up, to 866 from 779, fraud cases dropped to 1,038 from 1,167 but identity theft climbed to 119 from 87.
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