CRIME, POLICE, AND TRAFFIC STATISTICS: 2012 REPORT

RECOMMENDATION

That the Ottawa Police Services Board receive this report for information.

BACKGROUND

The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) annual report (2012: A Year in Review) was presented to the Ottawa Police Services Board (Board) in April and contained preliminary crime and call for police assistance data. A more detailed summary of crime and police statistics is prepared annually for the community as part of an ongoing performance measurement initiative,

The information presented in this report is extracted from the OPS Records Management System (RMS) and has been categorized using the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey for police-reported crime data, version 2.2. The statistics presented in this report also expand upon information presented to the Board in the quarterly performance reports, along with statistics forwarded to the City as part of the Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Initiative (OMBI).

DISCUSSION

The annual release of the Crime, Police, and Traffic Statistics Report -- citywide and by ward -- provides residents and visitors with a better understanding of crime and road safety in Ottawa. The data presented in this report, together with community feedback in the 2012 Public Survey on Policing and in other venues, assists the OPS and the community enhance community problem-solving efforts.

Key Crime Trends:

§ With 36,634 reported Criminal Code of Canada offences in the City of Ottawa, the level of crime increased by less than one percent in the past year (268 more incidents).

§ Although the number of offences was up slightly, the City’s crime rate fell nominally to 3,917 criminal offences per 100,000 population, down slightly from 3,922 in 2011.

§ Fourteen of 23 wards experienced increases between 0.5 percent (Rideau-Rockcliffe) and 13 percent (or 246 more incidents - Alta Vista). The remaining nine wards experienced a reduction in the number of CCC offences from 2011, with Knoxdale-Merivale having the largest decline (-12% or 180 fewer incidents).

§ Nearly four in ten crimes were solved in 2012, with over three-quarters of homicides solved by early 2013. The overall solvency rate for total Criminal Code offences (excluding traffic) remained consistent year-over-year at 38 percent citywide.

§ Over 8,400 adults and nearly 1,000 youth were charged with Criminal Code offences in 2012. Another 400 youth were also apprehended and not charged, but processed by other means (PBOM) and streamed into diversion programs under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).

Crimes Against the Person:

§ Violent crime dropped slightly in 2012 (from 5,128 to 5,069 incidents), the result of fewer attempted murders (-37.5%), robberies (-5.5%), homicides (-18%), and other offences
(-12%).

§ In 2012, there were nine homicides, including one criminal negligence causing death offence. This is down from the 11 homicides that were reported in 2011.

Crimes Against the Property:

§ Property crimes increased by 1.2 percent (from 27,032 to 27,356 incidents). This increase was due to higher occurrences in theft over $5000 and theft from motor vehicles.

§ Numbering 2,753 offences, break and enters increased by 1.8 percent in 2012. Kitchissippi and Alta Vista Wards experienced the greatest increases (+96 and 84 respectively), while Rideau-Vanier and Somerset saw the largest declines (-90 and 39 respectively). The solvency rate of break and enters increased by almost three percentage points (from 24% to 26.6%).

Other Criminal Code Offences:

§ Other Criminal Code of Canada offences (weapons, bail violations, counterfeit currency, breach probation, internet threats, and other) remained virtually the same as in 2011.

Traffic and Road Safety:

§ Impaired operation of a motor vehicle charges increased by 2.3 percent (+15 incidents) in 2012 to some 675 offences.

§ OPS conducted 35 Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) programs, stopping 11,037 vehicles, and administering 96 roadside demands (Alcotests).

§ Compared to 2011, the OPS issued over 97,000 traffic violations in 2012, a 6.3 percent increase.

§ Motor vehicle collisions resulted in 29 fatalities in 2012 compared to 19 fatalities in 2011[1].

Calls for Service:

§ A new process for classifying calls came into effect on June 18^th, 2012, when the Call Response Protocol was updated to improve service to the community while allowing for a clearer definition of call priorities, more efficient use of resources, and better coordination between the communication centre and patrol operations.

§ Last year, the OPS received 374,409 calls for police assistance. This is a four percent reduction from 2011 (390,558 to 374,409). This decline in 2012 was driven by the change in the alternative response calls handled by the organization, which allows some calls to be streamed to a call centre.

§ The OPS responded to more than 74,500 emergency response calls, characterized as crimes in progress or life threatening situations.

Call Response:

§ In the second half of 2012, response performance to Priority 1 calls citywide increased, with officers arriving on scene in 15 minutes, 95 percent of the time as per the benchmark. This was driven by the change to the call response protocol implemented in mid-June.

Additional information and data are contained in the full 2012 Crime, Police and Traffic Statistics Report to be released on 27 May 2013 and posted to ottawapolice.ca.

EXISTING POLICY

The annual Police, Crime, and Traffic Statistics Report forms part of the OPS’s ongoing performance monitoring to comply with Provincial Adequacy Standards and Ottawa Police Service Board Policies AI-001 Framework for Business Planning and A1-011 Framework for Annual Reporting.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

There are no immediate financial impacts or implications resulting from this report.

CONCLUSION

Ottawa is one of the safest cities in Canada. The annual report focuses exclusively on the City of Ottawa and provides police-reported statistics citywide and for 23 wards. Further data on community safety will be forthcoming from Statistics Canada based on the Crime Severity Index.

In addition to the collision and Provincial Offences Notices information contained in this report, the City releases an annual road safety report in the spring. The report typically includes highlights of road safety programs, traffic enforcement initiatives, and top collision locations.

The OPS will continue to serve on the OMBI Police Expert Panel, the national Police Information and Statistics (POLIS) Committee, and other venues that contribute to the ongoing discussion and improvement in the quality of life for residents, community safety, and police performance measures.

The OPS will continue to serve and collaborate with our residents in a proactive manner to ensure the City remains an attractive place to live, work and visit.

(Original signed by)

Charles Bordeleau

Chief of Police

Responsible for report: Superintendent Terrence Cheslock

This document contains information that reports on activities related to the Ottawa Police Business Plan.

[1] The City of Ottawa maintains city wide collision data and is currently compiling their annual Road Safety Report released each spring and will provide collision trends, high incident locations, and identify contributing factors to collisions.