CRIME RATE DOWN IN 2007

There has been no shortage of high profile crimes in Chilliwack
lately, but overall crime is down in the city, according to newly
released statistics for 2007.

The crime rate in Chilliwack for 2007 was 143 (the number refers to
the number of criminal code offences per 1,000 population). That's
down from 151 in 2006, 174 in 2005, 166 in 2004, and 183 in 2003, the
highest rate in the last decade.

Chilliwack RCMP attribute the drop in overall crime rates to
integrated crime reduction strategies that focus on prolific
offenders as well as the root causes of some crimes.

"Crime reduction isn't a police initiative," said Chilliwack RCMP
spokesperson Const. Lea-Anne Dunlop. "It's a community initiative. A
more holistic approach that is more focused on where it is coming from."

City Councillor Sharon Gaetz, who chairs the city's public safety
advisory committee, said the news is good, but that doesn't mean
there aren't problems.

"I was shocked to see that, but you couldn't have given me any better
news for the day," she said. "But on the other hand, we do have
serious problems and I would never be one to put our heads in the
sand. We have a drug problem in Chilliwack. Good news is great, and I
don't want to downplay it."

Dunlop agreed that drugs are a big problem.

"Ninety per cent of the crimes in relation to property or other
things comes back to drugs," she said.

Another help in the crime reduction is the RCMP's focus on prolific
criminals and when they get in and out of jail. Gaetz said that 95
per cent of crime is committed by five per cent of the population who
are prolific offenders, and Dunlop agreed with that estimate.

Overall a couple of high profile crimes of late have been targeted,
and Gaetz said that is important when people have perceptions about safety.

"As a person in Chilliwack walking downtown I have no fear," she said.

The criminal offences that are down in 2007 compared to 2006 include:
violent crimes, non-sexual assaults, property crimes, break and
enters, motor vehicle thefts. Those that are up include: sexual
offences, residential break and enters, thefts, thefts from motor
vehicles, "other" crimes and vandalism.

Overall Chilliwack's crime rate of 143 compares to a provincewide
crime rate of 104.

But Dunlop said given some small communities with very little crime
in the mix, it is more fair to compare to cities of similar sizes.

Some similar-sized communities, populations and crime rates:

- - Chilliwack, 77,649, 143

- - Maple Ridge, 73,492, 128

- - Kamloops, 87,348, 149

- - Nanaimo, 83,768, 152

- - Prince George, 75,375, 188