A decrease in crimes reported to Windsor Police in July.
New statistics from the service show crime continued to trend downward last month.
According to the crime stats report, crimes against persons dropped 17.5 per cent, with 236 incidents reported compared to 286 during the same month last year.
Assaults remained the most common offence, but were also down nearly 14 per cent, falling from 182 incidents to 157.
Year-to-date, crimes against persons also declined by 6.7 per cent, from 1,794 incidents at this point last year to 1,674 this year.
Property crime also fell in July, with 967 incidents compared to 1,127 a year ago - a 14.2 per cent decrease.
Looking at this July compared to last July, break and enters dropped 18.7 per cent, frauds were down 17.7 per cent, and thefts declined 12.6 per cent. The only category to increase was arson, with 12 incidents reported compared to eight last July.
Deputy Chief Ken Cribley says the Bail Compliance Unit has been one initiative making a big difference.
“When we look at recidivism type offences, we’re able to now monitor people that are out on some sort of a release. And before we had a bail compliance unit, it wouldn’t be unusual to have people who are out on release committing crimes, whereas now we can track that a little more closely.”
He says getting more officers out into the community is also paying off.
“It’s all about visibility, increasing patrols both in our police cars, our marked cruisers, officers on bicycles and on foot. And really that fundamental change was patrol officers now just handing over their files to an investigative unit rather than them being burdened and off the road to do a lot of the follow-up and file completion.”
Cribley says while the drop in crime is promising, the increase in arson cases is concerning.
“Some of them are really crime driven for whatever reason. Somebody just wants to damage property. Others, we know some of these arsons, we know that they are cases of fraud. They’re fraud files. It’s like an insurance fraud at times. Some of them are, whether it’s a structure at somebody’s house or a vehicle, they’re very concerning.”
Police are also reminding residents to report all crimes, even smaller thefts, saying the information helps officers identify trends and deploy resources where they’re needed most.
Windsor Police say they’ll continue focusing on proactive patrols and repeat offenders as they work to keep crime moving in the right direction.