Windsor police reports overall crime was up 19.35 per cent in Windsor last year compared to 2017.
A report presented to the Windsor Police Services Board on Wednesday afternoon showed violent crime in 2018 was up 10.84 per cent compared to the previous year. Murders jumped 125 per cent from four to nine and attempted murders rose 120 per cent from five to 11. Sexual assaults and robberies were down but assaults were up.
Deputy Chief Brad Hill said overall crime is trending down.
"It's hard to tell exactly in one month what's causing that trend. It could be seasonal, it could be our initiatives we are running downtown are assisting to bring those crime stats down but they are pretty much across the board trending down," he said.
Hill said property crime, such as break-ins and thefts, is up but arsons are down.
December drug offences went up three per cent year over year while firearms and weapons charges have increased 33 per cent from 2017 to 2018.
Windsor Police 2018 crime statistics. Jan 23, 2019. (Photo by Paul Pedro)
The deputy chief added that separate downtown Windsor crime statistics will now be released every three months. Complete Amherstburg crime stats will become public beginning next month.
Hill said Amherstburg officers have responded to 327 calls since January 1 when the town started being patrolled by the Windsor Police Service, which provides more services.
"We have an arson unit and there was an arson fire in the town and our unit responded to that and assisted with that investigation. The Amherstburg Police Service would not have had an arson unit," Hill added.
Hill said things have gone very smoothly in Amherstburg over the last three weeks.
"We're deploying our officers as required and we have not had any real emergency situations that we had to handle. It's pretty much business as usual," he said.