WEST CARLETON – In the 2020 Ottawa Police Service (OPS) annual report, the crime rate in West Carleton went down 24.6 per cent, but violent crime rose 14.3 per cent for the 2019 calendar year.

The OPS released its annual report today (July 22) which looks at crime in the city as a whole but also provides ward-by-ward stats.

The crime rate is calculated per 100,000 people. In Ward 5 the rate was 1,240.1 in 2018 and dipped to 934.5 in 2019. Violent crime was at 195 in 2018 and rose to 223.1 in 2019.

Reported crimes refers to the actual crimes reported to the OPS within a calendar year. Unfounded incidents, those deemed through investigation not to have occurred, are excluded. In Ward 5 there were 318 reported crimes falling to 243 in 2019 – a 23.6 per cent drop. Violent crime went from 50 reported crimes in 2018 to 58 in 2019.

The clearance rate of those crimes rose by just less than five per cent. In 2018 the clearance rate was 17.3 per cent rising to 22.2 per cent in 2019. The OPS were more challenged by violent crime cases in Ward 5. Exactly 64 per cent of the 2018 violent crimes in Ward 5 were cleared – either by charge or cleared otherwise. In 2019 that number fell to 34.5 per cent – a 29.5 per cent drop.

Calls for service in Ward 5 was down by 7.9 per cent. In 2018 the police responded to 4,275 calls and in 2019 that number dropped to 3,938.

In 2019, in Ward 5, there were no violations causing death – the same as 2018. Assaults were down as well in 2019 dropping from 32 in 2018 to 24. Sexual violations were up by four to nine in 2019. There were 24 other crimes identified in 2019 involving violence or threat of violence. The 58 crimes against the person was slightly higher than the five-year average of 50.

Crimes against property included 27 break and enters, down by more than half from 2018 when the number was 56. There were 11 motor vehicle thefts, down from 17. There were 44 cases of theft under $5,000 and 44 cases of fraud, both down from the previous years. The 41 cases of mischief equalled 2018. In total there were 174 crimes against property, below the five-year average of 219. There were only two drug offenses in 2019 down from five the previous year and the five-year average of seven.

There were seven criminal code traffic offences of operation while impaired and four failures to comply with a demand in 2019.

Numbers from the OPS’ public survey results (2018) were also published. The top five Ward 5 concerns, in order, include speeding cars/aggressive driving, identity theft, distracted driving, Internet/cyber crime and break and enter.

Overall, Ward 5 residents feel safe in their community. Ninety-seven per cent of residents feel safe in their neighbourhood during the day, above the city average of 92 per cent. After dark, 88 per cent of the community feels safe, much higher than the 73 per cent city average. The survey states 78 per cent of all Ward 5 residents are satisfied with the OPS.