Saskatoon has the fourth highest Crime Severity Index rating among major Canadian municipal areas, according to Statistics Canada.
The index measures the volume and severity of police-reported crime in Canada. Statistics Canada released the 2018 numbers on Monday.
Saskatoon's index score of 118 was unchanged from 2017. Lethbridge, Regina and Winnipeg took the top three spots, and each saw a 10 per cent increase over 2017. Quebec City had the lowest rating in the country at 44.7, a seven per cent decrease.
Saskatchewan had the highest rating among the provinces, at 139.2, which is a three per cent decrease from 2017.
Manitoba had the second highest rating, at 125.8, while Prince Edward Island had the lowest at 53.7. The national average was 75.
After increasing in 2017, Canada's homicide rate declined 4 per cent in 2018, to 1.76 from 1.82 homicides per 100,000 population.
Indigenous people, who represented five per cent of Canada's population in 2018, accounted for 22 per cent of homicide victims.
The rate of homicide for Indigenous people in 2018 was five times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous people.
Multiple police services indicated that the illicit use of methamphetamine is a growing issue in their communities and may be contributing to increases in other types of crime, including property and violent crimes, Statistics Canada said.
Drug addictions fuel property crime, Saskatoon police chief says
The trend of drugs fueling property crime is seen not only in Saskatoon but across the province, Saskatoon Police Services Chief Troy Cooper said.
Violent crimes in Saskatoon such as robberies decreased two per cent, while non-violent crimes such as fraud and break and enters increased by one-percent, he said.
The top 25 cities in the Crime Severity Index are mostly from Western Canada and face the same challenges – such as the prevalence of drug-related offences such as crystal meth, he said.
It can be taxing for officers to attend calls relating to mental health, he said.
More sex assaults were reported in 2018 in Saskatoon and across the country, and Cooper said the Me Too movement might have played a factor in more victims coming forward.
The 13,603 methamphetamine offences in Canada last year were an increase of 13 per cent. Among all drugs, possession of methamphetamine had the second highest incident rate after possession of cannabis. Methamphetamine offences accounted for 16 per cent of all police-reported drug crime in 2018, Statistics Canada said.
