Ontario Provincial Police are tracking a downward trend in property crimes across Essex County.
Overall property crime includes several categories like break-and-enter, theft under $5,000, theft over $5,000, fraud, and mischief.
OPP recorded a decrease across the board in each category in August, with overall property crime down 38.8 per cent with 126 incidents last month compared to August 2025, when there were 206 cases. There were 243 incidents in August 2024.
The downward trend in property crime is also being seen in the year-to-date figures.
Between January 1 and the end of August, overall property crimes were down 17.8 per cent with 1,298 cases compared to 1,580 the same time period in 2025. There were 1,776 incidents recorded during the same time in 2024.
Essex County OPP Inspector Jamie Smith credits an effort by police to be visible and targeting areas where they know there’s been an increase in thefts, including officers with the Community Street Crime Unit.
“It goes back to the visibility for our officers. People are seeing it, and the community is recognizing it, and I think that plays a part of it. Those individuals that are stealing from people, they’re recognizing the visibility as well,” he says.
Smith says some people don’t report crimes, but it’s important people contact police no matter how big or small the case may be.
“They’re embarrassed, or they just feel it wasn’t that much money taken from my car. It’s important to report that because citizens will come to us at the police services board or the community will come to us and say, ‘What are you doing about this?’ We’re not aware because no one has called it in, so it’s important to call it in so we know where to focus our officers,” he says.
Smith says home security and doorbell cameras have also made a difference in deterring crime and helping police request video from homeowners to aid their investigations.
“It’s only what people are willing to share, but it is a game changer in identifying vehicles involved, persons, and what they’re wearing. If they go into a store nearby, they are easily identifiable,” he says.
Smith encourages residents with doorbell or security cameras to register them with the CAMSafe program, which is aimed at creating a database of residential and commercial security cameras within a community.
The CAMSafe database would provide officers with a map showing registered cameras, allowing investigators to click on registered addresses to view further details, such as property owner contact information.
Officers will not be able to access your security cameras or cloud-based accounts to examine camera footage unless they make a request and receive permission from the property owner.
Ontario Provincial Police are responsible for policing Tecumseh, Lakeshore, Kingsville, Essex, Harrow, Leamington, and Pelee Island and also handle traffic policing on Highway 401, Highway 3, and Highway 77.