Crime and punishment is an old story. Someone desperate, poor, and not that good at predicting the consequences of their actions steals something. The police chase them. Rinse and repeat.
Crime doesn鈥檛 pay, but neither does playing whack-a-mole by catching crooks one at a time.
In the long run, we do better when police and communities work together on crime prevention and addressing root causes.
In the 1980s and 1990s, one of the most common crimes in the Lower Mainland was burglary. Crooks 鈥� sometimes teenagers 鈥� broke into houses and took electronics, CDs, cash, and whatever else they could carry and sell for quick cash.
There are relatively few break-ins to houses these days 鈥� across Canada, burglaries have dropped from almost 300,000 a year in 2000, down to fewer than 150,000 by 2021. Partly that鈥檚 because youth crime is way down. Partly it鈥檚 because policing and bylaws have made it harder to fence home electronics. And partly it鈥檚 because residents have hardened their homes to theft with security cameras and alarms.
The same thing happened with car thefts. While car theft has never disappeared, between 2005 and 2015, the number of cars stolen in Canada dropped by half. Bait car programs and security features on the cars drove those numbers down.
Today, some of the most common crimes in our area are thefts from cars, catalytic converter thefts, and shoplifting.
We鈥檝e seen from experience that crime rates can come down, often dramatically. But it takes a multi-faceted approach. Bylaws, crackdowns on fencing, and enforcement can slash rates of catalytic converter theft. And when it comes to thefts from cars, it will be a mixture of pro-active policing, and greater public awareness of the risk of leaving a car unlocked, or leaving any valuables unguarded and out in plain view, that will help reduce rates.
Keep that in mind when you鈥檙e out Christmas shopping this holiday season.
鈥� M.C.
