The severity of crime in Mission and Abbotsford is on the rise.
According to data from Statistics Canada, the crime severity index rose 4.5 per cent and the violent crime severity index 23.5 per cent in the Abbotsford-Mission census area from 2021 to 2022.
The crime severity index is a number generated by Statistics Canada to measure changes in the level of severity of crime in Canada from year to year.
The Abbotsford-Mission census area yielded a crime severity index of 85.32, up from 81.6 in 2021. The region finished above the Canadian crime severity index of 78 but below the B.C. number of 100.37.
Abbotsford-Mission saw over a 10 per cent dip in 2020 after a 3 per cent drop in 2019. In 2021, the index number jumped by over 5 per cent.
“The consecutive increases recorded in the overall CSI may indicate a return to the upward trend in crime observed before the start of the pandemic,” a Statistics Canada news release says. “The first year of the pandemic was marked by a decline in the overall volume and severity of police-reported crime, notably while lockdown restrictions were first implemented, driven by less non-violent crime.”
Before this drop, the crime severity index had been rising nationally for five consecutive years beginning in 2015.
The severity of violent crime is also tracked from year to year, and Abbotsford-Mission spiked 23.53 per cent from 2021 to 2022.
The violent crime severity index for the region is 106.98, roughly seven points higher than B.C. and 10 points higher than the national average.
The number includes all violent violations from the “Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey”. Some violations — including uttering threats, criminal harassment and forcible confinement — were not previously included in the aggregate violent crime category.
Non-violent crime in Abbotsford-Mission was down 3.61 per cent at 77.39, according to the crime severity index. The number remained seven points above the national average but 23 points below the B.C. average.
Meanwhile, a Statistics Canada breakdown of the City of Mission’s crime statistics was also released for 2022.
Mission’s rate of crime incidents per 100,000 population was 10,783.42 – just a 0.3 per cent increase from 2021. The city’s rate of total people charged per 100,000 population, 12 years and over, was 1,385 — a slight increase from 2021.
Of the 522 people charged in Mission in 2021, 492 were adults and 30 were youth.
In the crime severity index, all crimes are assigned a weight based on their seriousness. The level of seriousness is based on sentences issued by courts in all provinces and territories.
More serious offences have a greater impact on changes in the index because they’re assigned higher weights than less serious offences.
According to Statistics Canada, the index includes all Criminal Code violations including traffic, drug violations and all Federal Statutes.
The weighted clearance rate also treats more serious offences with higher weight with the clearing of homicides, robberies or break and enters representing a greater contribution to the overall weighted clearance rate value than the clearing of minor theft, mischief or disturbing the peace.
READ MORE: Crime declining in Mission
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