CANADA'S CRIME RATE LOWEST IN 20 YEARS

Toronto Leads Cities With Drop Of 11 Per Cent In The Last
Year

OTTAWA - Canada has achieved its lowest crime rate in 20 years, thanks to
an aging population and reduced unemployment, Statistics Canada reported
yesterday.

The latest figures available for 1998 show the country's crime rate dropped
4.1 per cent, the seventh consecutive year it has fallen. Since 1991, the
national crime rate has dropped 21.7 per cent, the agency reported.

Crime in Ontario fell even faster - by 5.8 per cent - the third largest
drop of any province.

And Toronto had the biggest drop of any major metropolitan area in Canada,
with its crime rate down 11 per cent. Violent crimes were down 2.2 per cent
in Toronto and the city's property crimes fell 14.8 per cent.

The megacity may have re-established its reputation as "Toronto the Good,''
with a crime rate of 5,839 per 100,000 people that was beaten only by
Quebec city.

There were 23 other metropolitan areas with higher crime rates than
Toronto. Ontario cities with higher crime rates per 100,000 included
Thunder Bay (10,379), London (8,284), Windsor (7,892), Ottawa (7,672), St.
Catharines (7,465), Sudbury (7,102), Hamilton (7,074) and Kitchener (6,849).

"The tragic shooting of a police officer in Toronto last week conveys the
message to people that they live in a pretty lawless society,'' said
University of Ottawa professor Julian Roberts, who specializes in crime
trends and public attitudes toward crime.

"But Toronto has, historically, for its size been an incredibly safe city,
particularly in terms of homicides. There are incidents that have projected
an image of big-city violence, but Toronto is not a big city in terms of
crime, thankfully,'' he said.

Roberts said the "cohesive communities'' within distinct Toronto
neighbourhoods have helped reduce crime and lately crime has fallen because
the city is going through an economic boom.

Reduced across Canada were homicides, attempted murders, sexual assaults,
robberies, break-and-enters, motor vehicle thefts and impaired driving, but
crimes such as fraud, prostitution and drug dealing - which are linked to
organized crime - remain stubbornly high. For example, drug offences
increased 6 per cent in 1998 and prostitution-related offences edged up 1.7
per cent.

"For that reason, the federal government is focusing our efforts now on
organized crime,'' said Yvette Alouisi, director-general for law
enforcement policy with the Solicitor General's department.

The department launched an organized-crime strategy earlier this year and
"the key aspect of that is to try to take the profit out of organized
crime,'' Alouisi said in an interview yesterday.

She agreed lower unemployment rates and an aging population have helped
reduce the crime rate in Canada, as they have in the United States and
Britain. Crimes tend to be committed by persons aged 15 to 24, a
demographic that's shrinking in Canada.

The number of Canadians who are 55 and over has been increasing steadily in
recent years. Statistics show they are the least likely to be involved in
crime.

What that leaves is a problem with organized crime, which is not just drug
dealing but also affects communities through everything from credit card
fraud to prostitution to high-tech crimes, Alouisi said.

"We know that organized crime is still a problem and that it has an impact
at all levels of society,'' she said.

Of the 2.5 million crimes reported in 1998, more than half - 56 per cent -
were property crimes, 12 per cent were violent crimes and the remaining 32
per cent were various other Criminal Code offences.

Violent crime fell 1.5 per cent, and of the 300,000 cases reported, 62 per
cent were of the less serious common-assault variety.

Homicides, of which 555 were reported in 1998, dropped 6.2 per cent to the
lowest level since 1968. The rate of attempted murders fell 15.5 per cent.

The 25,000 cases of sexual assault represented a drop of 6.6 per cent from
the previous year, and 97 per cent of those involved the lowest level of
measurable physical injury.

Home break-ins dropped 6.4 per cent, business break-ins fell 9.2 per cent
and car thefts were down 7.3 per cent.

Western provinces and the territories continue to have the highest crime
rates. Newfoundland, where police officers do not carry guns, has the lowest.

Over-all, the crime rates represent a "drift'' down from a peak in the
early 1980s, University of Ottawa's Roberts said. But today's lower rates
are still double what they were 30 years ago.

"We're not talking about huge declines but the comforting thing is that
seven years in a row (of reduced crime) is not just a blip - there's
something going on,'' he said.

The improved economy has helped, but Roberts said the number one reason is
the reduced number of 15- to 24-year-olds and the fact more of those young
people are now in school than ever before.

"The less free time for 15- to 24-year-olds, the less crime there will be
because there will be less drug and alcohol consumption.''

He also credited police practices, including community policing, and the
greater street presence of police officers and police vehicles for reducing
the crime rate.

Oddly, most Canadians still think crime is on the rise. A recent university
study indicated more than 50 per cent of Canadians believe crime is
increasing and only 10 per cent believe it's on the decline.

That's caused by the fact that crimes widely reported in the media
influence the public more than studies issued by the government, Roberts said.