The rate of violent crime in Halton has dropped by almost five per cent compared to 2023.
There were 1,266 incidents of violent crime in the region from January to June, down from 1,277 over the same period in 2023. That’s a drop of 0.9 per cent, but when accounting for the increase in population in the region, it’s a decrease of 4.9 per cent.
Accounting for the population increase, crime overall was up 3.1 per cent in the region in the first half of the year.
The mid-year report of crime statistics was discussed during Thursday’s Halton Police Board meeting.
Leading to the increase was a 13.3 per cent jump in property crime - an area that has gone up each of the past five years. That includes incidents of fraud, which almost doubled, jumping by 97 per cent.
Chief Stephen Tanner said that doesn’t necessarily mean there are more people committing fraud.
“There are prolific criminals,” he said. “If we have 646 more frauds, that’s not 646 more people committing fraud. It may be 20. We can have an individual on the internet who defrauds 30 people.”
While the rate of auto theft has slowed, rising just three per cent over last year compared to a 45 per cent increase in 2023, it still remains a major problem in the region. There were 224 auto thefts in the first half of 2020, compared to 796 this year.
Both Chief Tanner and Deputy Chief Jeff Hill said factors beyond the control of the police are contributing to the problem.
“They are in and out of jail quite quickly,” Chief Tanner said. “One auto theft example: we arrested a person in late August for auto theft, who was arrested August 11 for auto theft, who was arrested a month or two earlier for auto theft.”
“I have personally expressed to our crown that our members are getting frustrated,” said Deputy Chief Hill. “Our people are doing incredible work, catching bad guys and then they see them get released. The courts are just not treating the cases seriously. It’s tough for our people to put in the time and effort into a file, just to see nothing happen.”
Both said until the consequences outweigh the risk of getting caught, auto theft will continue to be a problem.
The board asked if the police could start tracking repeat offenders in order to build a case for harsher penalties.
Another factor that could help would be scanning containers at the port of Montreal, where many stolen vehicles are shipped. Organized crime is behind most of the thefts and recovering the vehicles would make it less lucrative. Tanner said the port is usually cooperative, but just doesn’t have the resources to scan every container.
Deputy Chief Hill said having a crown attorney recently assigned to auto theft cases has been helpful.
Auto theft, fraud and property theft has also led to a decline in Halton Police’s clearance rate, which fell from 41.3 per cent in 2023 to 34.5 per cent.
Property crime, generally the hardest crime to clear, has more than doubled over the past five years. Fraud is particularly tough, with many of the suspects operating outside of Canada.
Property crime - which includes theft, break and enter, fraud, mischief, arson and auto theft - accounts for more than three-quarters of all the crime in the region.
Despite the increase in property crime in Halton, its rate of 1,767 property crimes per 100,000 is by far the lowest of the province's largest 12 police services. Durham, with 2,126 incidents per 100,000, is next.
Motor vehicle collisions were up 3.6 per cent in the first half of 2024, though the number of fatal collisions fell from nine to two, and impaired driving charges were down 20.5 per cent during the same time period.