Crime in Mission rose 16 per cent in the summer according to the Mission RCMP detachment’s quarterly report to council on Monday (Nov. 21).
The report provided statistics from July 1 to September 30 of 2022, with 4237 total crimes reported in Mission during that period. The overall number is up 16 per cent from the previous quarter (April 1 to June 30) and 3 per cent from the same period last year.
Property crimes were the most common with 564 reported, also a 16 per cent increase from the previous time frame. Of the property crimes, mischief to property led the way with 131, with theft from a vehicle close behind.
Residential break and enters saw the largest increase from the previous quarter at 120 per cent and the biggest increase from 2021 at 136 per cent. Police attribute the rise to break-ins at licenced grow-ops, newly-constructed homes and construction sites. Police are compiling crime prevention tips for construction sites to combat the increase in break-ins.
Meanwhile, auto theft rose 73 per cent during the summer, while robbery saw the largest decline at 33 per cent.
With three months of reports remaining in 2022, violent crime is already up 18 per cent from 2021 with 788 violent crimes filed compared to 661 last year. Arson and robbery have seen the largest increases from last year so far, at 157 per cent and 141 per cent respectively.
Mission RCMP will increase officer visibility around Downtown and other crime hot spots, says Inspector Ted Lewko, officer in charge of the Mission detachment.
“The hot spots always change. They fluctuate week to week but we want to have proactive enforcement in [high crime] areas,” he said.
The number of prisoners also rose from 135 to 180 in the most recent quarter, but Lewko says there is no particular reason for this increase other than the nature of the calls police receive.
Lewko says the detachment’s priorities are traffic safety, employee wellness, strengthening relationships with Indigenous communities, and reducing property crime and violent crime.
Mission RCMP provided a separate report to closed council regarding public complaints about the RCMP, finances and investigations of a sensitive nature.