By Spencer Sterritt

‘Nanaimo has stayed as safe as it was before:’ RCMP

Nov 30, 2017 | 10:12 AM

NANAIMO — Despite no murders in 2016, how did Nanaimo break the top 50 in terms of most dangerous cities in Canada?

Looking at 2016 info from Statistics Canada, Nanaimo ranked 37th out of all Canadian cities in terms of danger. The stats look at violent and non-violent crimes and how they’ve increased or decreased.

Though Nanaimo ranked lower for violent crimes such as sexual assault and firearms offences, the number of minor crimes in the city are far higher than other cities across Canada.

The rates of break-and-enters, impaired driving and fraud are what drove Nanaimo’s overall ranking up.

After looking at the numbers, Nanaimo RCMP Supt. Cameron Miller told NanaimoNewsNOW he’s confident people don’t have to worry about going out on Nanaimo streets.

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“On a year-to-year basis, Nanaimo has stayed as safe as it was before, which in my opinion, is quite a safe city.”

Miller admitted the City is in the midst of a drug crisis, which contributed to many of the higher crime stats.

“We’re working with our partners to help resolve these issues and fight crime at a higher level, maybe interrupting the flow of fentanyl into the city.”

To minimize non-violent crime such as impaired driving and online extortion, Miller said RCMP will boost their community engagement efforts by talking more with residents, such as with their Coffee with a Cop effort.

Looking ahead to the future, RCMP are currently staffing three new positions for 2018, the first increase in several years. Previously, Miller told Nanaimo city council his officers handled a 13 per cent increase in paperwork files since last year.

Next year, Nanaimo may rank significantly higher. Violent crimes such as murder are weighed heavier than a crime such as fraud and Nanaimo grappled with three homicides so far in 2017. In April, a man was gunned down in the lobby of the Howard Johnson Hotel. In May, it was announced the case of missing teen Makayla Chang was considered a homicide. In September, second degree murder charges were laid after a man died of injures from an assault.

“Going forward, I’m not sure where we’ll rate to other cities, but as the chief of police I feel Nanaimo is a safe community and remains a safe community,” Miller said.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit