Kelowna falls to No. 3, which is a good thing
By Contributor
Kelowna has fallen from the dubious distinction of being named number 1 after Statistics Canada released a report showing the city to have the highest Crime Rate to the third highest Crime Severity Index in Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas.
RCMP said the city is beginning to see the positive change for which their Crime Reduction Strategy was designed.
With research-based, intelligence lead policing and an accountability model all in place, the hard work our officers are doing every day is starting to pay off, says Superintendent Nick Romanchuk, Officer in Charge of the Kelowna Regional RCMP.
A 12% reduction in Crime Severity Index and 13% reduction in overall Crime Rate from 2012 to 2013 is proof positive.
Supt Romanchuk came to Kelowna only last summer with a vision for the future. He knew where we were in terms of policing, which was reflected in the troubling statistics.
But he also knew that it wasn’t where we wanted to be and had a plan moving forward. Unable to change the past, he began implementing new strategies and finding efficiencies in order to meet our goals.
Dropping from 1st to 3rd in Crime Rate may not seem like a big move but it is a significant accomplishment considering the Kelowna Region is being compared to only 32 other Census Metropolitan Areas across Canada and several of those saw significant decreases as well.
This is certainly a trend that the Kelowna Regional RCMP intends to continue. The City of Kelowna’s Crime Severity Index now sits below the Canadian National Average.
