THE latest numbers released on July 24 by Canadian Center for Justice Statistics relating to Delta‘s crime severity rates are encouraging. The numbers confirm Delta’s rates remain low, say Delta Police.

Delta’s Crime Severity Index (CSI) for 2016 shows a slight decline over 2015 – from 53.9 to 53.6.

Delta saw a decrease of 35% in violent crime with only a slight increase of 9.8% relating to property crime. There has also been some positive variance with Delta’s clearance rate. There was an increase in the clearance rate of violent crimes from 40.9 to 52.2 and the clearance rate remained static on non-violent crimes.

What do all of these numbers mean for you as citizens of Delta?

Police Chief Neil Dubord explains: “Quite simply, Delta remains one of the safest communities in B.C. Delta is well below the provincial and national average CSI rates. Although the numbers are encouraging we are steadfast in our approach to drive these numbers down ensuring both the safety of our citizens and apprehension of offenders. Delta Police are in the process of introducing a new enhanced service delivery model and we are confident this will keep the CSI trending downward.

“I believe we need to be innovative in our policing approach, deploying our resources strategically and leveraging technology to our full advantage. Additionally and most importantly we must engage with you, our citizens, to work together to keep Delta one of the safest communities in the province. It is very important to me that our citizens feel and know they are safe in this community.”