The city of Williams Lake has dropped from fifth to ninth place in the Crime Severity Index according to the 2021 numbers released by Statistics Canada.
For the municipal area the CSI decreased by 23.43 per cent in 2021 down from 280.33 to 214.64.
Similarly the violent CSI decreased by 18.25 per cent or 203.30 down from 248.68 and the non-violent CSI was down 25.03 per cent or 218.21 down from 291.06.
In the Williams Lake rural area, however, there was a 20.23 per cent increase in the violent crime severity index (CSI) in 2021.
Statistics Canada released data on Aug. 2, 2022, indicating the CSI for violent crimes was 92.76 in 2021 up from 77.15 in 2020.
The overall CSI increased by 1.79 per cent while non-violent crimes decreased by 5.10 per cent or 70. 57 down from 74.36 in the rural areas.
Williams Lake RCMP detachment commander Darren Dodge, who arrived on the job in December 2021, described the CSI as a snapshot in time.
“One or two incidents could have a dramatic impact on the CSI for a municipality good or bad. Fortunately in 2021 we saw an overall change of 23 per cent compared to 2020 which was great.”
Referencing a report he received, Dodge said there were five top violations which contributed to the decrease in Williams Lake’s CSI.
There were no murders, which are worth 7,000 points.
Mischief was second which went from 618 files in 2020 to 427 in 2021.
Break and enters went from 121 in 2020 to 98 in 2021.
Fraud incidents went from 158 in 2020 to 119 in 2021 and theft under $5,000 or theft from a motor vehicle went from 201 in 2020 to 100 in 2021.
“We can really tell when a local person is active and not in jail,” Dodge said. “You really see a swing in these stats, especially the property crime.”
Dodge said Williams Lake is a busy place for the RCMP.
“I will say overall I think Williams Lake is a safe city,” he noted. “There are great residents here. I’ve been treated fantastically since I got here and had great cooperation from the local people. We have had some unfortunate events.”
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