Crime rate up by almost 50 per cent in downtown Kelowna

KELOWNA – The latest crime stats in Kelowna back up the perception that crime is on the rise, especially downtown.

The RCMP will present it’s third quarter report to city council on Monday, Dec. 3, that shows a 19.5 per cent jump in property, personal and other offences throughout the city.

In downtown Kelowna, where there has been much attention paid to increasing problems, the crime rate jumped a whopping 46.5 per cent.

Last week, council was presented with a report by former Kelowna RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon that had 26 recommendations to deal with crime that he attributed largely to the opioid crisis and the rise in homelessness. McKinnon made it clear that the perception downtown was that things had gotten worse and the RCMP statistics back him up.

Going back to 2015, downtown crime accounted for about eight per cent of crime throughout Kelowna for the period of July through September and it jumped to 10.7 per cent this year.

The 21-page report to council highlights many of the crime reduction actions taken by the RCMP over the summer months and other things like community involvement.

Here are some of the numbers provided by Kelowna RCMP in the third quarter report:

Total number of offences, with percentage increases (decreases):
2018: 4,440   19.5%
2017: 3,717   (2.5%)
2016: 3,813    7.3%
2015: 3,552

Downtown offences, with percentage increases (decreases):
2018: 476     46.5%
2017: 325      8.7%
2016: 337     (3.6%)
2015: 283     19.1%

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