Crime is down in Weyburn, as is the severity of the crimes. This was announced this morning as part of an annual survey that looks at crime from a national, provincial and municipal level.

The latest numbers from Statistics Canada, and the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics were released this morning. The report, “Police Reported Crime Statistics in Canada”, looks at findings from the 2015 Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.

The Crime Severity Index for Weyburn saw reductions in the violent and nonviolent crime categories. This resulted in a reduction of the overall Crime Severity Index. The Crime Severity Index in 2015 was 63.4, a drop of 21.6 per cent from 2014. The violent crime index fell by 38.5 per cent, while the non-violent crime index fell by 16.3 per cent.

Crime severity is calculated using sentencing data from the courts. Each offense is weighted according to the severity of the sentences handed down by judges. It is then multiplied by the number of incidents, and divided by the population. The base year of 2006 is used as a standard 100 across the country to make comparisons easier.

The number of police-reported crimes was also down significantly in 2015. There were 914 incidents reported, a 17.6 per cent decrease from 2014. In nearly every category, there was a decrease. This included assaults, thefts, and drug charges. One crime didn’t see a reduction in the past year, however - impaired driving numbers remained steady, despite numerous campaigns at the provincial and municipal level to encourage drivers to not get behind the wheel while intoxicated.