Pubdate: Mon, 30 May 2011 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2011 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Tom Spears, The Ottawa Citizen 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.