Stats Canada has released its reported crime numbers for 2014 and it was a good year for Vanderhoof.
Violent crime is down 21.4% , with overall crime falling by 5.4%. The “Crime Severity Index” for the District has been pegged at 81.44, down 39.7% from last year. By comparison, the Prince George CSI for 2014 was 131.02.
However, property crime in Vanderhoof has seen a bump of 8.9% with a total of 355 incidents of property crime occurring. The district also saw a big jump in the number of mischief files(167), up 43% over 2013.
Drunk driving charges saw a 44% climb. Vanderhoof RCMP detachment Commander Svend Neilsen says that is thanks to increased enforcement.
“We’ve certainly experienced some good success with that. Not only with road block enforcement but with an increase in general patrols and focusing on certain areas.”
To deal with the rise in property crime, Neilsen says they plan on continuing to focus on a few bad apples.
“We tend to focus on our prolific offenders and we have had pretty good success with the program that we’ve been running here for the past couple years.
Neilsen says they work with surrounding detachments in Fort St James and Prince George to help apply pressure on repeat trouble makers.
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