Penticton among top 20 dangerous cities in Canada

PENTICTON – A list published by Maclean's magazine ranks Penticton in the top 20 dangerous cities in Canada.

The interactive ranking tool indicates Penticton is the 16th most dangerous city in the country with a crime severity rating of 145.92.

The Canadian average is 70.96, putting Penticton's ranking 16th out of the 229 municipalities listed.

Penticton scored 87.92 for violent crime, higher than the national average of 75.25, and placing the city in 55th place on the list.

Data used in the interactive ranking tool comes from the Crime Severity Index, a Statistics Canada measure of all police reported crime, based on 2016 data which is the most current available.

Homicide, assault, robbery, impaired driving and cannabis trafficking crimes all dropped in 2016 when compared to the previous year, but sexual assault, firearms offences, breaking and entering, fraud and youth criminal justice act offences all increased over the same period, according to the Maclean's report.

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