GTA LEADS WAY AS CRIME DROPS ACROSS CANADA

Offences On Slide Nationwide, But Especially In T.O.

Greater Toronto boasts the second lowest crime rate of any metropolitan
area in the country, Statistics Canada says.

The Toronto area had the lowest break-in rate of any city last year, and
the third largest drop in over-all crime. Total crime here fell 7.9 per
cent to 5,385 crimes per 100,000 population, behind only Quebec city, the
statistics agency said yesterday.

Violent crimes in Toronto fell by 3.9 per cent, property crimes by 6.5 per
cent and other crimes by almost 13 per cent.

Canada's overall crime rate has fallen to its lowest level in two decades,
thanks in part to an aging population and a booming economy, federal
number-crunchers said in their first look at 1999 crime data.

The rate of crimes reported to Canadian police fell by 5 per cent in 1999,
the eighth consecutive annual decrease in what StatsCan calls an
"unprecedented stretch" since it began collecting crime data 38 years ago.
Crime in Ontario fell by 7.4 per cent - the second biggest drop after Quebec's.

Since 1991, the national crime rate has fallen by 28.5 per cent. Only two
common crimes buck the trend - possession of cannabis and disturbing the peace.

Fewer young people and more jobs may both play some role in cutting crime,
but over-all "you can't really explain the drop," said Julian Roberts, a
criminology professor at the University of Ottawa. "There are a litany of
potential explanations but none of them is very satisfying."

Toronto's break-in rate was only 371 per 100,000 population, compared to
1,592 in Regina. That city was the undisputed crime leader with a crime
rate of 15,191 offences per 100,000, followed by Victoria - where offences
actually increased by 4 per cent - Saskatoon and Vancouver.

Ontario cities' crime rates ranged from a high of 9,109 offences per
100,000 people in Thunder Bay to Toronto at the bottom and Kitchener, the
next lowest, at 6,385.

StatsCan's results confirm those of a report released by city police last
week stating Toronto's crime rate is down to its lowest level since the
mid-'70s.

The decline in crime since the early '90s across Canada has coincided with
a drop in the share of the population aged 15 to 24 - a demographic group
disproportionately fingered in crimes, StatsCan says.

Between 1962 and 1978, the crime rate and the proportion of 15- to
24-year-olds both rose steadily. Both have been declining since 1991.

But Roberts suggested the falling unemployment rate - now at a 24-year low
of 6.6 per cent - probably has a bigger impact on crime than demographics do.

"I think if you looked at the growth in the percentage of people who are
employed or are in post-secondary education or taking some sort of training
program, you would find that would match the decline in crime more closely
than demographics," he said.

Canada's violent crime rate fell 2.4 per cent last year, the seventh
consecutive decrease after 15 years of increase. The 1999 rate was still 5
per cent higher than in 1989 but would be 10 per cent lower than a decade
ago if minor assaults were excluded, StatsCan says.

Every major area of violent crime was reduced including homicides which
fell to 536 last year, down 22 from the year before. The homicide rate is
at its lowest level since 1967.

The use of firearms in violent crime also fell by 4.1 per cent. Robberies
with a firearm have fallen 50 per cent since 1991.

Violent youth crime charges dropped 5 per cent, the fourth decline in a row
and the largest decline since the introduction of the Young Offenders Act
in 1984. But youth violent crime charges are still 40 per cent higher than
in 1989, largely because of an increase in common assault charges.

The one major exception to the crime drop was the 12 per cent rise in drug
offences, fuelled by a 16 per cent increase in cannabis possession.

Drug offences reflect "more the level of police enforcement than the actual
demand on the street for illegal drugs," the report points out.

That trend is "quite disturbing and quite striking," said Roberts, but "the
good news is that the more serious drug stuff is slightly down."

But Roberts noted that despite all the declines, there is still a "huge
gap" between the public perception of crime and the crime rates. He
suggested that Canada's aging society, not the media, are to blame.

"If you're 50, you've read about a whole lot more homicides than when
you're 20."