Statistics Canada's yearly report shows police-reported crime is down 鈥� both in B.C. and in Canada as a whole.
Published Tuesday, July 22, the report shows the crime rate in B.C. decreased seven per cent, and the crime severity index decreased 11 per cent in 2024, compared to 2023. Over the past 10 years, B.C.'s crime rate is down eight per cent, but the severity index is up by three.
The crime rate represents the number of crimes per 100,000 people. The crime severity index adjusts the rate based on the severity of crimes.
Nina Keiger, B.C.'s public safety minister and solicitor general, called the results "encouraging" for B.C. She credited the reduction to focused investments in policing, mental health and addiction supports, housing and crime-prevention initiatives.
鈥淲hile these results are promising, we know we have more work to do and there are specific areas where we need to renew our focus," she said in a written statement. "If you are the victim of a theft or an attack, these statistics do not make you feel any safer."
A criminology expert told Black Press Media that while it is good news to see things begin to go in the right direction, the increase in the crime severity rate over the past 10 years is the more meaningful statistic, and is worrying.
"The important thing is for people, when they look at these crime stats, to look at it over a 10-year time frame," said Neil Boyd, a Simon Fraser University criminology professor emeritus and chair of the University of British Columbia's International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy.
B.C.'s crime rate is now slightly better than Alberta's, and much better than the prairie provinces, but still trails Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
Within B.C., Kamloops had the largest drop in crime rate and severity index, which decreased 19 and 21 per cent, respectively. Other major municipalities were close to the provincial average, with Kelowna's crime rate going down the least 鈥� a five per cent drop in the crime rate and nine per cent drop in the severity index.
Nationally, the crime rate and severity index both decreased four percentage points in 2024 compared to 2023, but increased significantly over the past decade. Compared to 2014, Canada's crime rate increased 12 per cent, and the severity index increased 16 per cent.
This is the first drop in the crime severity index for either B.C. or Canada as a whole since 2021.
Serious crime up over the long term
Boyd said he is concerned by the increase in the 10-year crime severity index, despite the decrease in the overall crime rate. This could mean crimes are becoming more violent overall.
"Over the last 10 years, we've seen an increase in violent crime and a corresponding decrease in other kinds of crime," he said.
Boyd cited a 2022 Angus Reid , in which 60 per cent of Canadian respondents said they thought crime was on the rise over the past five years compared to 30 per cent in 2014, as evidence that something is happening that is not being captured by statistics.
He floated several ideas for why this is, including that many digital crimes 鈥� the type of fraud attempts perpetrated against many Canadians daily through text, phone and email scams 鈥� go unreported. This is the changing "business of crime itself," he said.
"That isn't captured really in these crime stats," he said.
Then there is what he called "social disintegration," meaning the increase in the visibility of substance abuse and mental illness on Canada's streets.
"If you ask somebody, how is the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver today relative to a decade ago, just about anybody who is being honest will say it's in much worse shape today than it was a decade ago," he said.
B.C. Conservative Public Safety critic Elenore Sturko, a former RCMP officer, said many people are afraid to come forward due to fear of retribution, meaning many crimes go unreported.
"My biggest fear and worry for our province is that those stats are actually a reflection of people's under-reporting of incidents," she said.
The RCMP declined to comment on the overall provincial crime statistics, citing the local differences between crime rates in B.C.'s municipalities.
Calls for justice system reform continue
Sturko has long been an advocate for criminal justice reforms such as changing Canada's bail and interim release systems. Boyd echoed this, calling for reforms to judicial interim release, particularly in cases of intimate partner violence.
This is especially pertinent after Bailey McCourt was killed in Kelowna, allegedly by her estranged husband, who was convicted of choking someone and uttering threats, but had just been released from custody pending a psychiatric assessment.
Premier David Eby delivered a letter from McCourt's family to Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday calling for bail reform.
But Sturko said Eby is not pushing hard enough on the issue.
She also complains of under-funding in B.C.'s justice system, pointing out that Crown prosecutors have filed a grievance over staffing levels, which she said can cause delays in prosecution. Another issue is a lack of lab space to analyze drugs found by police. This can delay trials for drug offences, she said.
In the City of Surrey, which Sturko represents parts of in the legislature, there has also been an increase in anecdotal evidence of crime, including some high-profile extortion attempts.
"It doesn't feel in our community 鈥� particularly for people living in the South Asian community within our city 鈥� it doesn't feel like things have gotten better," she said.
