Chatham-Kent police headquarters May 12, 2015. (Photo by Simon Crouch) Chatham-Kent police headquarters May 12, 2015. (Photo by Simon Crouch)
Chatham

Crime Rates Down In Chatham-Kent

The crime rate for Chatham-Kent in 2015 has shown an overall decrease compared to previous years.

During the CK police board meeting earlier this week, the 2015 annual report highlighted about 15 specific crimes. The crimes listed range from attempted murder, assault, break and enter, robberies, etc.

Those crimes have been analyzed to show whether Chatham-Kent has seen an increase or decrease when compared to 2014.

CK Chief of Police Gary Conn says the municipality has been doing very well in terms of lowering most crimes.

"I'm pleased to say that out of the 15 components that we analyze on an annual basis, this year only four of those 15 we recognized a slight increase from the previous year," says Conn.

Those areas where an increase is seen include: arsons, aggravated assaults, sexual assaults, and stolen vehicles.

Even so, the increases were not too substantial.

Looking on a provincial and national scale, Chatham-Kent also seems to have a dip in numbers - which in this case is a good thing.

Statistics Canada recently released the number of crimes seen in Canada from 2014-2015, otherwise known as a Crime Severity Index (CSI).

"[The CSI] takes a look at violent and non-violent crimes in Canada," says Conn. "We saw a decrease in our violent crime and a decrease in our non-violent crime, which resulted in decrease of our overall crime severity index."

Conn attributes the decrease in crimes to the public being more aware and of course to the police officers.

"We're always continuing to look for new initiatives to make things more effective, [and] more efficient within our organization," says Conn.

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