OW meee gs o de a a a ed tt te tty te be eee! CS Sere ere ee Sr re er Cae ne ee _ tion busted by the RCMP i in 2003. . - Municipal crime rate list - puts Terrace i in eighth spot | By MARGARET SPEIRS. * THE MUNICIPAL CRIME rate in -Terrace jumped last year, moving the city from _ the 13th highest crime :rate in the province to number - eight. a ~ higher considering that: the . police strength for the city. is overestimated. due to. the * freezing of. two ‘policing: - positions by the city three years ago. ‘The’ crime rate is deter- ~ mined by the number of Criminal Code offences or ' crimes reported for. every 1,000 persons. The municipal crime rate, ' for Terrace, which includes \ the city only and not Thorn- hill, was 206 per 1,000 peo- ple in 2005, up from 198 per : 1,000 people in 2004, ac- cording to statistics recently released on the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor - General, Police Services Di- vision Web site. ° ‘ Smithers remains the crime capital of B.C. with a crime rate of 301 per 1,000 ‘people, also up from its ' 2004 rate which was 279 per 1,000 people. The crime rate represents all Criminal’ Code offences reported: by police except traffic violations and other federal or provincial statutes such as drug or liquor of- fences. It is considered to be ' a better measure of crime trends than the actual num- ber of offences because it al- - lows for population growth. '. Terrace Prince Rupert, which rose slightly from 202 crimes per 1,000 people i in 2004 to 204 last year and moved from — 11th spot to a tie for, ninth » . place with Squamish. Kitimat dropped from a crime rate of 91 per 1,000 ~to 70. . ' The municipal case bur- den, which - represents the workload per. officer; has risen for the last four years, according to’ a separate re- port available.from the Po- lice Services Division of the Ministry Web site. Case burdens are a better — indicator of the demand for police services than either a municipality’s population _base or its crime rate and is .,one of many factors that de- termine the strength and or- ganization of a police force in addition to crime rates, population bases, size and - accessibility of areas to be policed and traffic volumes. Case burdens do not re- flect the amount of time that police provide general as- sistance to the public, par- ticipate in crime prevention programs or enforce traffic laws. , Terrace is considered to. have a police strength of 25 officers each year from 2001 ‘to 2005, although two posi- tions were frozen by Terrace city council in 2003, mean- jumped .. past. ing only 23 officers have — “been serving the city since . then. The case burden based on the 25 officer police strength " from 2001 to 2005 was.94, 85, 94, 100 and'103 in each "year respectively. » The stats may be even n= Crime capital Smithers is noted to have a police” strength of nine officers and‘ - ' mander Dave Fenson said it~ a case burden of 126, 162, 180, 174 and 184 from 2001 to 2005. respectively. * Prince Rupert’s case bur- dens over the’ same: period ” CONSTABLES Bryden Hennesey and David Desa pose with several ‘marijuana Plants seized from ¢ a grow. opera- ' Park, who’s a member of the Downtown Merchants Association which recently stepped up its efforts to take a bite out of crimes against local businesses, says the as- * sociation is still ‘working on’ securing extra police patrols and camera surveillance . downtown. RCMP ‘detachment com- would be dangerous and ir- responsible.to make a hasty _ interpretation regarding. the » Safety of the. community u “| haven't noticed a huge difference. - there’s still the same shoplifters running around town. The unfortunaté’thing is the ~ Bob Park _ laws aren’t tight enough to nail these guys and put them in jail,” were steady at 86, 86, 81, 85 and 85. The port city has a police strength of 36. Downtown retailer Bob Park doesn’t think much has changed in Terrace. : .“T haven’t noticed a huge difference,” he said. “There’s still. the same shoplifters running around town. . The — unfortunate thing is the laws aren’t tight enough to nail these guys” and put them in jail.” - based on the overall crime rate. “These numbers are af-. : fected by a number of factors including reporting rates and proactive enforcement rates among others,” he said. He noted an increase in the number of reported property crimes from 978 to, _ 1,069 from 2004 to 2005; but ‘Said that at the end of July 2006, there was a decrease. from 663 at this time- last “is lower than the 2004 rates. ‘increase last year has not dents are being proactive in» ‘he said, adding the city FILE PHOTO. #- warehouseone.com WEARABLE, AFFORDABLE...IRRESISTIBLE year to 577 this year, which. ~ “It does appear that the carried over into 2006,” he said. | . Although he’s only been in Terrace for three months, he said the city and its resi- BACK TO SCHOOL ‘DEALS addressing their concems about crime. The .city is being proac- tive with crime prevention. in the downtown area and a wide variety of community arid volunteer groups are _ addressing social concerns such as alcohol and sub- stance abuse, racism, bully- ing and domestic violence, ya boasts a number of healthy choices and opportunities for youth from sports to cul- ture and music. “This is'a healthy and vibrant community with a great deal to offer people looking to come here,” he said. , Terrace RCMP officers are members of the com- munity and will continue to work with the city and com- » munity groups to address their concerns and safety, he said. Crime rates for Thorn- - hill will be published in a different report this fall as — part of the provincial crime © , Yates list, which differs from — municipalities. AS THE TIME TO SHOP a“ FOR . eee CHRISTMAS mM Oy . INVENTORY MUST GO City Furniture | AL ALL SEASONS Source Gout fOr sports. 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