The New Westminster police board got a double dose of statistics at its first meeting of 2023.
Each month, the New Westminster Police Department provides an update on the city’s latest crime statistics. The reports reflect police records as of the day the data was collected, so the numbers may change over time.
Here are some of the statistics from “persons offences” in November and December 2022:
Homicides and attempted homicides: No homicides or attempted homicides occurred in November and December.
Sexual assaults: Eight sexual assaults were reported in November and six were reported in December, with 65 occurring in 2022. There were 56 sexual assaults in New West in 2021 and 66 in 2020.
Common assaults: 32 common assaults were recorded in November and 39 in December, with 348 reported in 2021 and again in 2022.
Assault with a weapon or CBH (causing bodily harm): 11 cases were recorded in November and nine in December, with a total of 164 recorded in 2022. That’s four per cent fewer than the 170 in 2021.
Aggravated assault: no incidents were reported in November and two were recorded in December, with a total of six cases in 2022 – the same as 2021.
Robbery: Two robberies were reported in November, followed by six in December, for a total of 59 in 2022 – a five per cent increase over the 56 in 2021.
Domestic violence: There were 33 incidents in November and 34 in December. The 562 incidents in 2022 was a seven per cent decrease from the 604 incidents in the previous year.
Family violence: In November, 14 incidents were reported and in December there were an additional 17 incidents. The 236 incidents in 2022 was a 12 per cent drop from the 267 incidents in 2021.
According to the report, there were a total of 2,030 monitored properties offences in 2022, an eight per cent decrease from 2,210 the previous years. Here are some of the property offences statistics:
Break and Enter – business: Six were reported in November and two in December. The yearly total of 126 was a 45 per cent drop from 228 in 2021.
Break and Enter – residence: There were four in November and seven in December. Break and enters increased by 12 per cent, going from 58 in 2021 to 65 in 2022.
Theft of vehicle: Nineteen vehicles were stolen in November and 10 in December. The year-to-date total was 148, 15 per cent more than the 129 incidents in 2021.
Theft from vehicle: Fifty incidents were reported in November and 77 in December. There were 801 incidents in 2021, but that went down to 670 in 2022 – a 16 per cent drop.
Theft – other, over $5,000: Three cases were recorded in November, followed by one in December. The year-to-date total of 14 incidents in 2022 was 27 per cent higher than the 11 in 2021.
Theft – other, under 5,000: Fifty incidents were reported in November and 40 in December. The yearly total of 441 was 15 per cent higher than the 382 in 2021.
Mischief over $5,000: Three incidents were recorded in November and none in December, with 10 reported throughout the year. That’s down from the 12 in 2021.
Mischief $5,000 or under: there were 48 incidents in November and 40 in December. The year-to-date total of 490 was down from 519 in 2021.
On the traffic front, the November and December crime statistics report stated there was a total of 644 collision offences, an increase from the 562 in 2021.
The report to the police board also touched on some of the other offences occurring in New Westminster, including: weapons (five in November and four in December); missing persons (23 in November and 18 in December); mental health related calls (15 in November and 17 in December); disturbed person/attempted suicide (20 each in November and December); sudden deaths (12 in November and eight in December); and domestic disputes – no assault (31 in November and 29 in December)
NWPD Deputy Chief Paul Hyland recently told the Record that the New Westminster Police Department supplies the monthly statistics to the board as “snapshots in time” for some specific identified call types that the department actively monitors for analytics purposes, such as where and when to best deploy its resources. He noted that not all police call categories are covered in the monthly crime statistics report.
According to Hyland, the New Westminster Police Department relies on the Crime Severity Index report that’s produced annually by Statistics Canada for a better overall picture of crime in the community. A recent report by Glacier Media looked at Statistics Canada data for the past 24 years and found that New West had one of the highest average Crime Severity Index scores among the 20 largest municipalities in B.C.
