The bad news was that Estevan's non-violent and overall crime rate went up this past year compared with last. The good news is that the violent crime numbers are down. (Mercury, Aug.1)
The information, compiled by Statistics Canada, tabulates crime incidents from over 200 police forces across the country and they then form a crime index that takes into account the types of crimes as well as other factors such as population to arrive at a crime index number for each community.
Estevan's overall crime index rose by just over 23 points year-over-year, putting us in 16th place in Canada on the overall crime index. The non-violent crime index was no better, the Energy City placed eighth overall with a spike of about 38 points.
The bright spot, as noted, was found in the reduction of violent crimes where Estevan's ratings dropped to 108 from 96 placing us 58th overall this past year compared with 54th place in 2010.
Readers, keep in mind that in this index rating system, the idea is not to be No. 1. The further down the list we are, the better it is.
Factors that Stats Canada has not included in their tabulations are the numbers of unreported crimes.
We believe in smaller cities such as Estevan, the citizens still care enough to report the more minor crimes, hoping to nip mini-crime sprees in the bud in a city where we still want to believe we know one another and are willing to watch out for our neighbours.
There are a number of well known instances in major cities where relatively minor crimes such as vehicle vandalism, minor thefts or bar room shoving matches simply go unreported because the people involved understand that their respective police services don't have the time or personnel to go chasing or looking for minor miscreants.
So in some respects, having an increase in non-violent and total crime statistics in Estevan may not be a bad thing because it may indicate that we still care enough to report them and the real good news is that on occasion, Estevan Police Service personnel and members of the local detachment of the RCMP are able to mount successful investigations and bring petty thieves and vandals to justice, perhaps saving them from pursuing a more serious career in crime while saving the victims some anguish and keeping the city a little bit safer.
In other words, we still care enough to try, both at the citizen and police department levels, and that's what we find encouraging because in many centres, they've simply given up trying to sweat the small stuff, having to focus instead on only the big stuff. They know that's not right, but can't do much about it. In Estevan, we know that minor crimes are not right, and thankfully, we all still care enough to at least try to put a stop to it or at least place a lid on it for the benefit of all except the criminals.
How the justice system chooses to handle the small stuff is a subject to be dealt with in other editorials or opinion pieces. So Estevan's rising crime statistics are maybe not such a bad thing. After all, we should be expecting increases in a growing city that has added about 3,000 permanent and another 1,000 or so non-permanent residents in the past few years. That's part of the growing pains that every burgeoning city undergoes.
As law enforcement officials have pointed out, a rapid growth pattern in a city attracts not only the desired workforce, but also the undesirables, the dross of society, who attach themselves to the perimeter of the community with no intention of doing anything positive.
Our major message would be for our citizens to keep in touch with their neighbours and neighbourhood, keep in touch with your police and other protective services. You don't have to be a bug about it, just let them know if you see or hear something that just doesn't seem right. Be comforted in the fact that they still care as long as you still care.
