VICTORIA: A HOTBED OF CRIME?

Maclean's Ranks City Eighth In Canada, But Experts Take It With A Grain Of Salt

B.C.'s provincial capital is being billed as one of Canada's crime
capitals in a controversial ranking that suggests Victoria is the
eighth most dangerous city. But police and criminologists say don't
run for cover just yet.

"We're not the most dangerous city in Canada. We're a safe city but
we're a city that struggles with a tremendous challenge in terms of
our resources," said Victoria interim police chief Bill Naughton.

In Maclean's magazine's rankings based on 2006 per capita crime
rates, Regina is No. 1, followed by Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Prince
George, Edmonton, New Westminster, Chilliwack, Victoria, Vancouver and Halifax.

Victoria is also ranked with the top 10 per cent of American cities
for break-and-enter rates.

Rob Gordon, director of Simon Fraser University's school of
criminology, said it's problematic and manipulative to compare
Canadian and U.S. crime rates. He does not believe Victoria is one of
Canada's most dangerous. "It's a ridiculous statement to make," Gordon said.

Benedikt Fischer, a criminologist at the University of Victoria, who
also studies addiction and mental health, warns people should take
the statistics with a grain of salt, noting great discrepancies in
the number of crimes reported in Canadian cities -- for example, a
sheltered Victorian might be more likely than a street-savvy
Torontonian to report a minor property crime.

Victoria's seemingly high crime rate -- which includes Esquimalt --
is also partly due to the fact the city is the capital region's
centre for government, business, social services, entertainment and tourism.

When bar patrons spill into the streets and get into brawls, or
mental health patients are released onto the street from Royal
Jubilee Hospital, it's Victoria police who respond.

Victoria, Regina and Chilliwack saw break-in rates more than double
the average in Canada -- a statistic police and criminologists
attribute to Victoria's high number of drug addicts breaking into
cars and houses.

"Addiction obviously drives a vast majority of our property crime,
particularly low-end crime," Naughton said. "On the other end, drugs
are the driver for our more serious crimes such as homicides."

Victoria police spokesman Sgt. Grant Hamilton estimates the city is
hit with about 30 property crimes a day -- 10,000 are investigated a year.

"Everyone's had their car broken into, myself included," Hamilton
said. The other night about 20 cars in a James Bay parkade were
emptied of their contents, mostly loose coins.

However, Victoria's crime rate has a much dirtier little secret than
rampant drug use, Fischer said. Victoria's growing income gap between
rich and poor is another huge problem.

"Even though Victoria might seem nice and quaint," Fischer said,
research shows discrepancies in income produce high levels of crime.

"Even though Victoria has a lot of people who are well off and
established, and not your typical criminal population, there is a
marginalized and disenfranchised population -- a substantial one
proportionally -- and that together with a quite sizable drug user
and mental health problem population ... obviously generates a lot of
property crime," Fischer said.

On the way to the coffee shop from the cop shop yesterday, Naughton
said he talked with a handful of lifelong alcoholics and others who
are mentally ill and addicted.

"That's a great microcosm of what it is we deal with," Naughton said.
"We get lots and lots of calls for service that are not criminal in nature."

The long-term solution to that will likely be found in the
implementation of the mayor's task force recommendations to end
homelessness and deal with mental illness and addiction, Naughton
said. As well, the city is hiring 19 more officers.

However, Fischer suggests more money spent on drug treatment and
therapeutic interventions, rather than policing, would reduce crime rates.