Delta Police are reporting good news in its fight on crime in the community.
This week, Statistics Canada released the Crime Severity Index (CSI) for all jurisdictions throughout Canada.
The CSI is calculated based on the amount and seriousness of the offences that are reported to police. A low CSI rate is indicative of a relatively safe community. Index scores are compared to a baseline of 100, which is calculated using historical data. CSI is a method to compare crime consistently across jurisdictions.
According to DPD, Delta’s 2020 CSI is 57.04, down by 12 per cent in comparison to 2019. Overall, Delta ranked number three for the Greater Vancouver/Lower Mainland area municipal police jurisdictions and number seven for B.C. municipal police jurisdictions for the lowest CSI score. Delta’s CSI of 57.04 is well below the provincial CSI average of 95.71 and the national CSI average of 73.44.
Overall, Canada’s CSI average score decreased by eight per cent from 2019 to 2020 and while, the national decrease in CSI is in part attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated stay-at-home orders, this was not true across the board as some municipalities saw their CSI’s increase.
Nationally, certain crime types saw an increase, including homicides, opioid-related offences, hate crimes, and child pornography.
A CSI lower than the previous year is one of the key performance indicators for the success of DPD’s Community Safety Plan notes DPD Chief Neil Dubord.
“While the pandemic may have played a role in the crime rate nationally, locally in Delta, it’s the hard work of the men and women on the incredibly dedicated, committed and passionate team at the DPD who contributed to Delta’s CSI being nearly 40 per cent less than the provincial average, in collaboration with our local community,” said Dubord. “Our members work 24/7 to ensure that Delta remains one of the safest cities to live, visit and work in B.C.
“While our calls for service in 2019 and 2020 remained similar, the team’s ongoing efforts contributed to the CSI decrease in 2020.”
