Vancouver Police today released crime statistics for 2019 that show a decrease in major violent crime like homicides, sexual offences, and bank robberies.
Despite the decrease in notable violent crime categories, the overall violent crime rate increased by 7.2 per cent in 2019 due to a significant, 11.2 per cent increase in assaults. Assaults accounted for more than 78 per cent of all violent crime incidents in 2019.
The number of homicides in 2019 was at a five-year low. There were 10 homicides reported in 2019, 15 in 2018, 19 in 2017, 12 in 2016 and 16 in 2015. The number of bank robbery incidents was the lowest reported in the past ten years.
In 2019, property crime increased by 5.2 per cent. Incidents involving theft from automobiles increased by nearly 13 percent – marking the ninth consecutive year this type of crime has increased.
The complete statistics are available online.
Violent crime categories:
In 2019, assaults increased to 4,521 incidents – up from 4,064 in 2018.
Shots-fired incidents increased in 2019 to 29 – up from 19 in 2018.
There were 10 homicides recorded in Vancouver in 2019. There were 15 in 2018.
Sexual offences reported in 2019 decreased by 3.9 per cent. Sexual offences that occurred in 2019 decreased by 14.2 per cent.
The number of bank robbery incidents decreased in 2019 to 23, from 39 in 2018.
Property crime categories:
The number of break & enter incidents at residences decreased by 10.5 per cent in 2019.
The number of break & enter incidents at businesses increased by 21 per cent in 2019. This is primarily due to significant increases to break & enter incidents at underground parkades and storage rooms.
In 2019, the number of theft from auto incidents increased in 12.9 per cent.