POLICE STATS SHOW CRIME DOWN, BUT OFFICERS RESPONDING TO MORE CALLS

Less crime, but more calls for help: The Ottawa police statistics for
2010 show a shifting pattern where officers were busier, but there
were drops in the number of robberies, assaults and break-ins.

The level of reported crime fell by nearly five per cent, to 37,579
Criminal Code offences.

The changes included:

. Violent crime, including assaults and robberies, fell by six per
cent.

. Reports of breaking and entering fell by nine per cent, and police
say their rate of solving the crimes improved by six percentage points
to 30 per cent, or three in every 10 break-ins.

. But drinking and driving continues. Police charged just over two
people every day, on average, with impaired driving - 750 people
through the year. That's an increase of 20 cases.

Despite the drop in major crimes, more than 386,000 people called the
police last year, an increase of six per cent from 2009. Of these,
79,000 were emergency calls involving a crime in progress or a
life-threatening situation.

The full report will be presented to the Ottawa Police Services Board
on Monday evening.

Violence:

There were 3,343 assaults (including sexual assaults) in 2010, a drop
of four per cent; and 670 robberies, down a dramatic 18 per cent.

The city saw 14 homicides, up from 10 in 2009. Police note however
that two of the 14 were committed in previous years (1990 and 2003)
and were only discovered in 2010. As well, there were 14 attempted
murders.

Property crimes:

There were 27,446 property crimes - a broad category including all
kinds of theft, vandalism, arson, fraud, and break-ins. About half
those offences were thefts of less than $5,000.

Overall that figure is down by 8.6 per cent. The biggest change was a
sharp reduction in thefts of motor vehicles - a drop of 30 per cent to
1,224 vehicles, down more than 500 from 2009.

Traffic:

Most traffic issues improved, with one glaring exception: There were
34 people killed in traffic last year, up from 25 the year before.

In other respects the news was better. The number of collisions with
injuries fell to 2,623, down 109 from the previous year.

The number of injuries - 3,509 - was down by 138, or 3.8 per
cent.

There were also fewer collisions overall - 13,391 as opposed to 13,923
the previous year, also a drop of 3.8 per cent.

At the same time, the number of traffic violations rose by two per
cent to just over 150,200. However, the number of charges fell by
seven per cent because officers are increasingly handing out warnings
rather than laying charges.

Drugs:

The number of drug offences is up slightly, due mainly to an increase
in charges related to marijuana. Police shut down 16 grow-ops, and a
further 16 outdoor plantations in 2010, In all they seized more than
9,000 plants.

About two-thirds of the drug offences involved marijuana and almost
all the rest were for cocaine. There were also 13 cases involving
ecstasy, two for heroin and seven involving crystal meth.