21638 replies to this topic

[pontcanna]

"Random" remains the word of the year (so far) for VicPD and VanPD...

 

Witnesses Sought After Man Randomly Threatens To Stab Another

 

Date: Tuesday, May 10, 2022 - Files: #22-17079, #22-17049

 

Victoria, BC – Patrol officers are asking for witnesses to come forward as they continue to investigate an assault with a weapon that occurred yesterday afternoon at Blanshard and Hill streets.

 

Shortly before 1 p.m. Monday afternoon a man called 911 to report that another man had tried to stab him in the area of Blanshard and Hill streets. The caller reported that he did not know the man who had approached him, threatened him and brandished a weapon. The caller was following the man at a distance, relaying the suspect’s location to the E-Comm 911 call taker.

 

Patrol officers arrived and located the man and the suspect. Officers arrested the suspect at gunpoint. A multi-tool was located during the officers’ evidence search.

 

Officers recognized the suspect, who had been arrested and released earlier in the day for breaching court-ordered conditions not to possess knives.

 

The suspect faces recommended charges for assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and breaching conditions. He was held for morning court.

 

If you have information about this incident but have yet to speak to officers, please call the VicPD Report Desk at (250) 995-7654 extension 1. To report what you know anonymously, please call Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

 

Officers are responding to increasing numbers of reports of random attacks. If you are assaulted or confronted by someone, please get yourself to safety by moving away from that person to a well-populated location, and call 911.

 

[Nparker]

 

...Officers recognized the suspect, who had been arrested and released earlier in the day for breaching court-ordered conditions not to possess knives...

FFS we need to do better than this.

[pontcanna]

Bradley Charles REED

Wanted For: Canada Wide Warrant/ Breach of Parole
Wanted As Of: 05/10/2022

Age: 42
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 194lbs
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Hazel
Race: White
Sex: Male

 

https://victoriacrim...y-charles-reed/

 

[Victoria Watcher]

edit

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 May 2022 - 12:08 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Early morning assault in front of Saanich home sends man to hospital

 

 

https://www.vicnews....an-to-hospital/

 

Incident in Strawberry Vale neighbourhood doesn’t appear to be random, police say

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 May 2022 - 12:07 PM.

[Mike K.]

Press release:

One man remains in hospital with significant but non-life-threatening injuries after being assaulted with a weapon early this morning.

Police were called to the 4200 block of Santa Anita Avenue just before 1 a.m. on May 11, 2022, for a report that a man had been stabbed outside of a residence. He remains in hospital. While no arrests have been made, this assault does not appear to be random.

Investigators are currently canvassing the neighbourhood and are seeking any witnesses or dashcam footage leading up to or just after the assault occurred, around 12:50 a.m.

“While the victim was initially uncooperative with police in providing information, the priority for responding officers was to administer first-aid and immediate care,” said Cst. Markus Anastasiades. “Further attempts to speak to him are being made once he is medically able to, which we anticipate will be later today.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Saanich Police Department at 250-475-4321. You can also report anonymously through the Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

[Victoria Watcher]

Last few days your own driveway has been an unsafe place.

[Victoria Watcher]

Capital Daily:

 

 

 

Victoria's crime rate is dropping

 

 

 

 

Assaults, robberies decrease in Victoria, but shoplifting on the rise amid inflation

 

Violent crimes appear to be on a downward trend in Victoria, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.

Police reported or received 102 assault-related calls in Victoria in February (the latest month for which crime-related data is available), or about 3.6 calls per day—the lowest figure since May 2020, when they reported 90 assault-related incidents (or roughly 2.9 calls per day). February also marked the 1st drop in assault-related calls in Victoria since October 2021, after a 3-month upward trend.

Reported robberies took a nosedive in February as well, with only 4 incidents in Victoria—the lowest total since September 2021, when there were 3. February’s tally marks the 4th straight month of declines in reported robberies, after 12 in October 2021.

Policing costs at issue recently
The numbers come as Victoria’s police department (VicPD) is looking for a $4.2M increase from its 2021 budget, which Esquimalt has declined to pay.

VicPD has proposed adding 10 new positions in its requested $63.4M budget, including 4 civilian positions, 2 mental health officers, 2 additional officers to partner with Island Health, a cybercrime sergeant, and a cultural liaison officer—roles Victoria police chief Del Manak has called "an essential component of the overall core budget request for VicPD… [and] the minimum budget required to provide adequate and effective policing for the City of Victoria and the Township of Esquimalt."

Victoria police have come under scrutiny in recent months for the way they respond to mental health emergencies. In a new project set to start this summer, Victoria will pilot Peer Assisted Crisis Teams (PACTs), made up of people with lived experience of mental health and substance use disorders, along with clinical counsellors, nurses, and social workers.

A recent provincial report recommends amalgamating the region’s police forces. This would distribute some of the costs of policing in the region, which (as in most metro areas) is concentrated more in the downtown core. Currently, this results in costs borne mainly by Victoria and Esquimalt. This merger was initially intended to happen after Esquimalt was added to VicPD back in 2003.

Crime in Greater Victoria has fallen significantly over the past 15 years, with much of the past decade in the range of 6,000 to 7,000 total annual incidents per 100,000 people. In the early 2000s, incidents exceeded 10,000 in most years.

Shoplifting sees upward trend
While violent crimes have dropped, police have reported an uptick in shoplifting—a repeated occurrence that some have suggested could be linked to escalating inflation.

VicPD received and/or responded to 88 shoplifting-related calls in February (or about 3.1 per day), marking the 3rd straight month of increased reports, and matching the highest tally since September 2021. (In January 2022, police reported 72 shoplifting-related incidents, or about 2.3 per day.)

Across Greater Victoria, demand for food bank services has risen in recent months.

"Everybody seems to be a paycheque or a bad bill or a car payment or an injury away from struggling," Tyson Elder, operations manager for the Saanich Peninsula Lions Food Bank, told us last week.

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 May 2022 - 06:25 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

 

 

Apart from February, not sure assault is "dropping".  February is of course a short month, plus one week was particularly cold in February.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 May 2022 - 06:30 AM.

[Mike K.]

Do they differentiate between Victoria and City of Victoria? It’s hard to tell.

Also, February is a short month.

[Mike K.]

I do wonder, if the feds are as bad as they are on tracking real estate activity, how good are they at tracking crime data? Do they rely on stats directly from departments or do they have to research the data independently?

[Nparker]

Again, it's Capital Daily. Not sure anything they write should be taken as fact.

[spanky123]

Crime is the number one election issue this fall in Victoria. Every group that has done polling has been told that.

 

I suspect that we will see an effort by incumbents and their supporters to downplay crime statistics throughout the next several months.

[Mike K.]

Soon we’ll have day-by-day charts to prove crime is falling.

Nevermind all of the people being assaulted in Victoria, crime is falling. And if there’s a component rising, we’ll extract it from the data, and dismiss it as crimes of survival.

But we won’t tell you that with every call for shoplifting, many more were never reported, nor will we acknowledge that each occurrence of shoplifting has the potential to turn violent, so unlike in years past, the prevalence of attempting to stop shoplifting has dwindled to near zero as businesses take on policies of observing to maintain safety rather than active engagement to thwart the thefts.

[spanky123]

I do wonder, if the feds are as bad as they are on tracking real estate activity, how good are they at tracking crime data? Do they rely on stats directly from departments or do they have to research the data independently?

 

I found the footnote that the CD left out of their reporting. You can check for yourself at https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/

 

As of May 2021, data for violations for the Victoria Police Department have been revised back to March 2019. Data on calls for service for the Victoria Police Department represent counts of events specifically related to the COVID-19 pandemic, rather than all counts of calls for service.

[spanky123]

Soon we’ll have day-by-day charts to prove crime is falling.

Nevermind all of the people being assaulted in Victoria, crime is falling. And if there’s a component rising, we’ll extract it from the data, and dismiss it as crimes of survival.

But we won’t tell you that with every call for shoplifting, many more were never reported, nor will we acknowledge that each occurrence of shoplifting has the potential to turn violent, so unlike in years past, the prevalence of attempting to stop shoplifting has dwindled to near zero as businesses take on policies of observing to maintain safety rather than active engagement to thwart the thefts.

 

Check the footnote I found. The VicPD stats are only for crimes that are covid related and do not report all crimes as CD would have you believe.

[Mike K.]

Womp womp.

Oops.

[Mike K.]

Spanky, can you narrow down the link? I’m not sure where to look for the footnote.

[Victoria Watcher]

I found the footnote that the CD left out of their reporting. You can check for yourself at https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/

 

As of May 2021, data for violations for the Victoria Police Department have been revised back to March 2019. Data on calls for service for the Victoria Police Department represent counts of events specifically related to the COVID-19 pandemic, rather than all counts of calls for service.

 

Need better link.

[lanforod]

wait, so those are assaults specifically related to Covid? How to you relate an assault to Covid? Or shoplifting to Covid?