January 27 Council Meeting: Quarterly RCMP Update. Langley City Crime Stats

Langley RCMP quarterly update to City council. Select image to enlarge.

At Monday night’s meeting, Langley City council received a quarterly update from Superintendent Murray Power who is the Officer in Charge of the Langley RCMP. Included in the update was a look at the crime statistics from August through December in 2018 and 2019.

Persons Crime	2018 - Q4	2019 - Q4
Assault - Common	66	106
Assault - Aggravated	18	45
Harassment	31	51
Murder	0	0
Murder - Attempted	0	0
Robbery	20	19
Sexual Offenses	11	19
Shots Fired - Confirmed	0	1
Uttering Threats	57	91
Weapons/Firearms Offences	12	31

One of the things to keep in mind is that starting in 2019, there was in change in how crime statistics are reported. Previously, only when the RCMP had reasonable proof that a crime occurred, would it be reported. Now, all reports of crime whether where there is reasonable proof that it occurred or not is included. This is why there is a marked increase in the assault, harassment, uttering threats, and sexual offence categories in the statistics. As a note, common assault includes things like pushing someone around where no bodily harm is caused. Aggravated assault means where body harm is cause or a weapon was used. An example of an aggravated assault is a bar fight where there is facial bruising.

One area of question is the increase in weapons/firearms offences. Superintendent Power noted that he will look into this further, and provide an update to City council*.

*Update: This is due to the change in crime statistics metrics were all reports are now counted. If the old metric was used, weapons/firearms offences would be 11 in 2019 - Q4.

Property Crime	2018 - Q4	2019 - Q4
Break & Enter - Business	71	113
Break & Enter - Residential	16	28
Break & Enter - Other	17	31
Auto Theft	60	110
Theft from Auto	209	385
Theft - Other	111	136
Mail Theft	7	10
Fraud	95	106
Shoplifting	111	125
Possession of Stolen Property	28	20
Bike Theft	16	29

Theft from auto remains a major issue in Langley City. One of the simple ways to reduce theft from auto is to ensure that there is nothing in a vehicle to steal. Another simple way to reduce this type of crime is to lock vehicle doors at all times. The RCMP will be distributing “Nothing to Steal But This Sign. Please, Don’t Steal This Sign” mirror hangers for people to use in Langley. These hangers include crime prevention tips.

Superintendent Power stated that they recently arrested a group of criminals. He noted that these arrests should have an impact on the number of Break & Enters in our community, and that it is only a handful of people that are responsible for the majority of property crime in Langley City.