NEWS RELEASE
BARRIE POLICE SERVICE
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Statistics Canada has released the Police-reported crime statistics for 2016 and has recorded the Barrie Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) as ranking in the top three (3) regions with the lowest Crime Severity Index (CSI), a statistic we have proudly upheld since 2013.The Barrie CMA consists of the City of Barrie, Town of Innisfil and Springwater Township.
The Crime Severity Index (CSI) is a measure of police-reported crime that reflects the relative seriousness of individual offences and tracks changes in crime severity.
The Barrie CMA 2016 overall CSI is reported at 45.4 which is listed less than the Provincial and National average. The Barrie CMA 2016 Violent CSI is reported at 46.3 with an overall decrease of 40% since 2006.
The Barrie Police Service remains committed to our citizens to identify the necessary strategies and initiatives that will further decrease crime in an effort to make Barrie a safer community.
Our priority is to ensure public safety and security coupled with enhancing community mobilization and engagement. Our service works together with many community partners to collaboratively provide outlets which allow citizens to play an integral role in crime prevention.
Within Simcoe County we work with businesses and organizations such as Crime Stoppers Simcoe-Dufferin-Muskoka as well as unitizing Social Media and Citizens Online Reporting Services to offer a co-operative approach to community safety.
Nationwide, Barrie CMA rely on the ongoing support from agencies such as TipSubmit.com, CyberTip.ca and The Canadian Anti-Fraud Center to keep Barrie and surrounding areas with some of the lowest crime ratings in the province of Ontario and county wide.
Additional Information:
Police-reported crime statistics, 2016
What is the Crime Severity Index?
The Crime Severity Index is a measure of police-reported crime that reflects the relative seriousness of individual offences and tracks changes in crime severity. It was first introduced in 2009 and was developed at the request of the policing community to address limitations to the traditional Crime Rate.
It complements two other measures of crime: the police-reported Crime Rate, which measures the volume of crime, and victimization survey data, which measure Canadians’ experiences of crime.
What can the Crime Severity Index be used for?
The index gives us a different view of crime and allows us to answer questions that were not easily answerable previously, such as: Is police reported crime in Canada more serious than it was last year? Is police reported crime in my jurisdiction more or less serious than in another jurisdiction? Has police reported crime become more serious over time?
What does the Crime Severity Index tell us?
The Crime Severity Index tells us if police reported crime was relatively more or less serious than in previous years. For ease of interpretation, the index is converted to 100 for the base year, which is 2006. For jurisdictions, the Crime Severity Index is particularly useful in determining if police reported crime has become more or less serious over time, or if police reported crime is more or less serious in one area than another.
How is the Crime Severity Index calculated and are the weights updated regularly?
The seriousness of each offence is determined by using objective sentencing data from the nation’s courts. Each individual offence is “weighted” according to the severity of the sentences handed down by judges. Sentencing data come from Statistics Canada Adult and Youth Courts Surveys. Weights for the Index are based on the average of five years of courts sentencing data and they are updated every five years, using the most recent data available from the courts. It should be noted that outliers (atypically very long and unique sentences for a given offence) are not included in the average.
What is a Census Metropolitan Area?
A census metropolitan area (CMA) consists of one or more neighbouring municipalities situated around a major urban core. A CMA must have a total population of at least 100,000 of which 50,000 or more live in the urban core. To be included in the CMA, other adjacent municipalities must have a high degree of integration with the central urban area, as measured by commuting flows. The Barrie CMA consists of the Barrie Police Service and the South Simcoe Police Service (Innisfil Township ) and the Ontario Provincial Police (Springwater Township ). Stats Canada reports that the crime severity Index for the Barrie CMI is 45.4.
Where can I obtain more information?
For more information on the Crime Severity Index and other police-reported crime statistics, please contact the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics at [email protected] or at 1-800-387-2231.
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