2021 Burnaby Crime Analysis Supports Need for Continued Security
Overall Crime Continues to Increase in Burnaby
Data analyzed by the national crime index has shown that crime in Burnaby continues to increase based on data gathered and reported by government and policy makers over the past 36 months. A standardized tool, called the crime index, is used by statisticians to estimate how safe a specific area is based on the total number of crimes reported within your town or city. Specific parameters are set to obtain statistical analysis of crimes reported. Crimes considered very low or low receive scores under 40 respectively. Moderate levels of crime are ranked between 40 and 60, with high levels of crime between 60 and 80. Burnaby specifically has an overall level of crime score of moderate (41.83) and high score for increase in crime over the past 3 years (70.03).
Given the current and overall increase in crime over the past 3 years, further analysis is warranted. Provided is an interpretation of the most common crimes experienced by the general public.
Property Crime
Vehicle Theft
Business Break and Enter
Property Crime
According to reports published by the Burnaby RCMP, it might be good news that property crimes have actually decreased in the first few months of this year, with 2259 incidents reported, compared to 2984 in the previous year. However, in 2020 there was an overall increase of 7% in property crimes from the year before. While the figures for property crimes have dropped for the first quarter of this year, it could be argued that Covid-19 government financial support may have influenced these numbers. With the government scaling back Covid cheques, it would not be unreasonable to anticipate an increase in property crimes in the second half of 2021.
Vehicle Theft
While property crimes may be down in the first part of this year, vehicle thefts in Burnaby increased by 13% within the same quarter. Hellosafe.ca reports that the overall total number of vehicles stolen in Canada continues to increase. Despite increasing safety features provided by vehicle makers, theft continues to be an increasing concern for the public. Data shows that the more populated a city is, the higher the percentage of car thefts. Since Burnaby is the third most populated city in BC, the correlation between population and vehicle theft doesn’t come as a surprise.
Business Break and Enter
Break and enters within business have decreased this year. That being said, there were still 153 independent reports of business break-ins between January and March in 2021. Government-implemented Covid-19 restrictions may have had an impact on this data. With smaller independent shops sadly going out of business and people staying at home more this year, the decrease makes sense. However, with Christmas fast approaching, we can anticipate that incidents will rise. As a result of the financial stress Covid-19 has caused individuals and their families, it would not be preposterous to predict increased business theft in the upcoming holiday season.
Current global turbulence has likely had an impact on specific crimes this year, yet crime continues to exist. While some types of crime have seen a decrease in the first part of this year, the crime index and government published reports show that overall crime in Burnaby continues to increase. It is important that we do not allow these findings to affect our perceptions of crime and the importance of safety!