New figures show various crime categories dropping across North Saanich.
Total Criminal Code offences in North Saanich as recorded by Sidney/North Saanich RCMP dropped five per cent in 2019 compared to 2018, with the most notable drop being crimes against persons going down 19 per cent. Various property crimes, the largest overall category of recorded crime, dropped two per cent.
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Looking at the bigger picture, crimes against persons in 2019 appear “below” the five-year average of 77 offences with 73 cases, while property crime and other Criminal Code offences are “well below” the respective five-year averages.
Commercial and other break-and-enters spiked — at least on paper — significantly in 2019, up 300 and 233 per cent. But the actual number of cases is low.
North Saanich did see a notable spike in thefts from vehicles, rising by 65 per cent to 38 in 2019, up from 23 in 2018.
Staff-Sgt. Wayne Conley of Sidney/North Saanich RCMP specifically highlighted this increase in his remarks to North Saanich council, noting that thefts of this sort are easily preventable.
The figures broadly confirm North Saanich’s status as the ‘safest’ of the three Peninsula communities. Drawing on the Violent Crime Severity Index (CSI), Macleans’ Canada’s Most Dangerous Places 2020 ranked North Saanich in 228th place out of 237 communities. The survey ranked Sidney in 211th and Central Saanich in 226th.
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