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“Our government has made substantial investments in
policing and public safety,” said John van Dongen, Solicitor General and
Minister of Public Safety. “Since 2001, we have increased the annual policing
budget by $128 million, and returned $250 million of traffic fine revenue to
local governments to support their crime-fighting efforts. We have invested $44
million in PRIME, which gives police instant access to information to help
fight crime, and created the Civil Forfeiture Office to take the profit out of
illegal activity.”
In B.C. in 2007, the number of reported crimes, and
the per-capita crime rate, declined in all categories: crimes against persons
(violent crime including robbery); crimes against property (including break and
enter and vehicle theft) and ‘other’ crimes (such as vandalism, prostitution
and counterfeit currency).
In 2007, a total of 457,008 Criminal Code offences
were reported, almost 35,000 fewer offences or seven per cent less than
reported in 2006:
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There were 1,182
fewer violent offences which led to a four per cent drop in the violent crime
rate – a new 20-year low. In 2007, homicides dropped by 19 per cent with 20 fewer
than reported in 2006.
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Declines were
reported in all property-crime categories in 2007 resulting in a nine per cent
drop in the property crime rate.
·
The number of
motor vehicles stolen dropped by one-third from 2003 to 2007 – a 30 per cent
decline.
“The Bait Car program has been extremely effective in
driving down vehicle theft and we are working on reducing property offences
even further with our
The crime reports are located at: www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/police_services/publications/
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250 356-6961 |
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For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca. |
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