Violent crimes may have seen a slight rise in Surrey, but a recent report released by the Surrey RCMP shows those crimes have gone down in Cloverdale.
According to the Surrey RCMP data, Surrey saw a four per cent overall increase in violent crime over last year, while Cloverdale has seen a six per cent decrease.
Much of this change for Cloverdale can be attributed to the reduced number of sexual assaults so far this year: 16 so far in 2018 compared to 30 this time last year.
However, there have been five kidnappings and abductions this year, compared to one at this time last year, and 133 assaults compared to 105 last year.
As well, Cloverdale has seen two of the city’s seven homicides this year, although this is not included in the RCMP’s violent crime count.
Like the rest of Surrey, Cloverdale has seen a decrease in property crime over last year.
Cloverdale consistently has the fewest number of break-and-enters in the city (225 so far this year, compared to a high of 363 for Whalley), although it loses its good ranking to South Surrey for mischief, theft from vehicles and identity theft.
In fact, Cloverdale has seen a 144 per cent increase in identity theft since this 2017, going from nine instances at this time last year to 22 so far this year.
Drug offenses have gone up significantly in Cloverdale, even more so than in the rest of Surrey, although the actual number of offenses remain low. There were 11 instances of cocaine possession, nearly double from this time in 2017. There were also 52 instances of marijuana possession, compared to 42 last year.
These mark a 64 per cent increase in drug-related offenses in the community, although Cloverdale’s proportion of drug crime remains low: only about 10 per cent of the city’s total.
grace.kennedy@cloverdalereporter.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
