KAWARTHA LAKES-Violent crime in the Lindsay area increased by 20% from the previous year according to a report by the City of Kawartha Lakes Police.
In 2016 there were 682 violent incidents reported to police and in 2017 that number had jumped to 819. Violent crimes are classified as homicide, attempted murder,assault, sexual offences, abduction/confinement and more. Police Chief John Hagarty says the figures don’t point to a long term trend. “Offences/Incidents is up by 80 but still lower than 2013 and 14, the average over the 5 years is 306, no specific or identified trend.” Hagarty told Kawartha 411 News.
The largest jump was in assaults and sexual offences. In 2016 there were 533 assaults versus 648 last year and 35 sexual offences as opposed to 45 in 2017. These figures include the Central East Correctional Centre. Â “When I did an analysis of these incidents it shows the increase of 10 (similar to 2015) was caused by increased reporting from Senior Care facilities reporting incidents of sexual offences with the resident/suspect is suffering with dementia, sometimes the victim as well.” according to Hagarty.
There was one murder in both 2016 and 2017.
The number of calls for service was also up substantially from about 10,500 to more than 11,500. “The calls for service analysis didn’t show a trend of a specific type of call, just an overall increase in calls.” Chief Hagarty says.
The services clearance rate for serious incidents remained very high at about 72%.
