Even without an alcohol-fuelled riot, property crime in the city of Vancouver has continued to rise over the past two years.
According to the latest data from the Vancouver Police Department, property crime is 1.1% higher thus far in 2013 with 26,117 incidents for the first nine months of the year. That's up from 25,827 in the same period in 2012. The rise follows an increase of nearly 4% in the number of property crimes reported last year compared with 2011.
So far, business burglaries have risen 2.5% to 1,337 from 1,305 last year. The increase has been concentrated in East Vancouver and the downtown core. The highest concentrations of reported commercial burglaries have been around Granville and Broadway, along a section of Broadway east of Clark Drive, in the Downtown Eastside and the southern portion of the central business district between Granville and Burrard streets.
Theft of property worth over $5,000 has also risen substantially this year (4.9%) to 9,521 incidents from 9,075 while possession of stolen goods and fraud have both seen double digit percentage increases so far in 2013. This follows a nearly 8% increase in property theft in 2012 from 2011 levels.
Overall, there were 34,579 property-related crimes reported last year, up from 33,268 in 2011.
A third of the incidents involved the theft of goods worth over $5,000. Another 27% involved property and vehicles stolen in Vancouver last year.
So far this year, the increases in some property crimes have been offset by declines of other Criminal Code offences. Auto theft is down 7.9% so far in Vancouver; the number of thefts from vehicles is down 3% and the number of burglaries from homes is down 2.4%. Thus far in 2013, the number of robberies has dropped 18.3% to 651 incidents from 797, and the number of assaults is down 7% to 3,474 from 3,735.
Overall, for the first nine months of the year, the total number of Criminal Code offences in Vancouver is up 0.3%. •
