Crime is up across Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills, according to Halton police 

After a drop in crime rates during the pandemic, incidents shot back up in 2022 in Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills.

According to a report being presented at Thursday’s Halton Police Services Board meeting, there were 3,607 more criminal offences reported in 2022 (15,103) than in 2021 (11,496).

This is a raw number increase of 31.4 per cent, but represents an increase in the crime rate of 28.7 per cent when population growth is taken into account.

Violent crime offences increased by 29 per cent, from 2,091 in 2021 to 2,698 in 2022. This represents a violent crime rate increase of 26.4 per cent taking population change within Halton into account. These crimes accounted for 17.9 per cent of all criminal offences, down from 18.2 per cent in 2021.

Property crime increased by 35.6 per cent from 7,461 in 2021 to 10,118 in 2022, an increase of 32.9 per cent.

The “Other Crimes” category of offences was up by 17.6 per cent in 2022 (from 1,944 to 2,287 offences). This represents a crime rate increase of 15.3 per cent in this category of crime.

The 2022 clearance rate (40.8 per cent) was down from the 2021 value (43.8 per cent).

Here are other other trends contained in the report:

• Reportable motor vehicle collision totals were 40.2 per cent higher during 2022, (up from 6,180 to 8,666)
• Property damage collisions were up from 5,410 to 7,719 (42.7 per cent).
• Injury collision totals were up 22.6 per cent, rising from 764 to 937
• Fatal collisions increased from six in 2021 to 10 in 2022

Despite these increases, property damage and injury collision totals and rates are below those reported in the pre-pandemic years of 2018 and 2019.

Impaired driving apprehensions were down 14.1 per cent in 2022 (from 490 to 421).