Chatham-Kent police are looking at the correlation between COVID-19 and trends in local crime.
A report by Chief Gary Conn presented during the Police Service Board Meeting on Tuesday analyzed the local crime rate over the last few months to examine any possible connection to the pandemic. The report analyzed calls for service, arrests, and charges from April 1 to August 31, 2020, and compared the data to the same time period in 2019.
"We were specifically looking to examine any possible correlations or anomalies related to or possibly related to the COVID-19 pandemic," Conn explained.
The report looked at a variety of different types of crimes and Conn noted that there were several noticeable differences.
"There are clearly certain offences that we have seen an increase in regards to both arrests and charges," he said. "Some of these include aggravated assault, criminal harassment, assault, [possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose] and mischief over $5,000 offences."
According to Conn, there was also an increase in calls for service regarding family disputes and domestic-related calls.
"Our services suspected this would be the trend given the issues surrounding COVID-19," he said.
The pandemic also appears to have brought decreases in certain types of crimes over the past few months.
According to Conn, the police force has seen a reduction in arrests and charges surrounding theft both under and over $5,000 as well as mischief offences under $5,000.
Conn said that impaired driving-related charges and arrests have also taken a noticeable dip during the pandemic.