For the fourth year in a row North Battleford has the highest overall crime severity in the country among cities over 10,000, and the city manager wants more information to be able to address it.
City Manager Jim Toye is seeking more specific findings from Statistics Canada after North Battleford scored a dismal 352.39 on its 2012 Crime Severity Index, well above the national average of 75.
"It is disappointing to see that," admits Toye of the rankings. But he adds "there are some things we can do. "
He points to efforts in the past year to add five new police officers to the city's RCMP detachment, as well as the launch of the HUB in the city.
The HUB effort, which Toye chairs, includes more cohesive partnerships among local agencies with the goal of bringing about a safer community.
On the positive side, city crime numbers are down from last year, but that has also been the trend across Canada as the CSI has seen an overall drop of three per cent nationally.
"Crime is down overall," said Toye, but "having said that, we still want to make a difference in the CSI. We'll continue to do that with some of the partnerships we've developed around the HUB table."
Among the things Toye wants to know from the Statistics Canada report is the ages or demographics of those responsible, as well as areas of the city and the time of day when the most crime is taking place.
Specifically, Toye wants to know "what we could see if there's any trends there in which we have to concentrate."
"If there are hotspots where we need to increase enforcement or surveillance or police visibility, we are certainly prepared to work with the RCMP to take such an initiative," said Toye.
As for why the crime severity is so high in the city, Toye notes the biggest problem is property crime - an area that falls under the "mischief" category in the CSI rankings. That includes such offences like graffiti and vandalism.
That has been a problem area for North Battleford for some time and counts for 15 per cent of the CSI index.
"If we could make a huge difference in that statistic it would affect the total percentage of the CSI," Toye said.
Toye pledged to continue efforts to reduce crime in North Battleford, noting the HUB has been meeting twice a week for the past year. He said those efforts will continue throughout the summer.
Toye also emphasized that turning around the crime statistics will not happen overnight.
"I think what we need to do is take baby steps and use the tools that are there such as the HUB," said Toye. "As we go to the future we're hoping we're going to have initiatives that are going to help with the crime statistics."
