Kelowna reports progress on crime reduction in 2024

The City of Kelowna said there was a steep drop in crime in 2024 and claims it was because of some new initiatives.

Property crime dropped 10 per cent, including a 31 per cent decrease in business break and enters and a 15 per cent decrease in residential break and enters, according to the city’s recently released annual report.

There were 16 new RCMP officers, five bylaw officers and six firefighters hired in 2024. The city also partnered with 55 different community organizations and members to work on community safety.

The city’s resident survey found that only five per cent of people said that crime was their top concern, while 58 per cent said social issues were their top concern.

A quarter of the city’s annual taxation revenue budget went to police services. A total of more than 40 per cent went to community safety including police, bylaw and fire services.

Kelowna spent $51.3 million on its contract with the RCMP in 2024, which is less than the $52.5 million it spent in 2023.

The city also pointed to enforcement blitzes in downtown, Rutland and on the roads as a decision that improved community safety.

Kelowna was the nation’s crime capital two years ago until it was unseated by Kamloops, but according to Statistics Canada data from the summer Kelowna still ranks 7th in the country.

Kelowna’s property crime rate went down by two per cent, and the crime severity index dropped by seven per cent in 2024, according to Kelowna RCMP’s annual report.

The crime severity index measures how serious crimes are and calculates an average. Crimes are given a severity value first-degree murder has a crime severity value of 8273.62, while mischief has a value of 26.99.