Saskatoon Police chief responds to latest crime numbers

The numbers are out for crime and Saskatoon is among the worst statistically in the country.

That being said, the numbers didn’t change when you compare 2017 to 2018.

Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper said that’s a good start, especially when it comes to crime trends.

“It tells us that we know what’s going on,” he said. “Rather than re-shift all of our resources, it’s nice to be able to understand the patterns at a deeper level.”

Cooper said issues in the city that they’ve keyed on are addictions, particularly around crystal meth.

Saskatoon ranked fourth in the country, according to Statistics Canada.

Lethbridge, followed by Regina and Winnipeg topped Saskatoon in the crime numbers.

Overall, Saskatchewan was tops in the country among provinces, with the three Territories registering higher numbers than Saskatchewan.

Cooper said around the city, they’re also dealing with a lot of the same issues. The difference is, Saskatoon has more resources.

“It’s not a surprise to us to look around Saskatoon and see villages and towns and communities with very similar crime severity indexes, because they face the same challenges demographically that we do.”

Provincially, Saskatchewan did drop a bit when it comes to the provincial crime index.

Cooper noted that last year, there was an increase in the numbers based on the #MeToo movement. More sexual violence crimes were reported.

In Saskatoon, non-violent crimes went down slightly, and in the past five years, has gone down drastically.

Non-violent crimes continue to rise, and have over the past five years.

These numbers are specifically crimes that have been reported to police.