Skip to content

North Saanich sees five per cent drop in crime

New figures confirm North Saanich’s reputation as the ‘safest’ of three Peninsula communities
20790759_web1_RCMP-logo
North Saanich has seen overall criminal code offences drop five per cent in 2019 compared to 2018. (Black Press Media File)

New figures show various crime categories dropping across North Saanich.

Total Criminal Code offences in North Saanich as recorded by Sidney/North Saanich RCMP dropped five per cent in 2019 compared to 2018, with the most notable drop being crimes against persons going down 19 per cent. Various property crimes, the largest overall category of recorded crime, dropped two per cent.

RELATED: Sidney/North Saanich RCMP to monitor to local homelessness

RELATED: North Saanich property crime drops two per cent

RELATED: Oak Bay is the second-least dangerous community in Canada according crime index

Looking at the bigger picture, crimes against persons in 2019 appear “below” the five-year average of 77 offences with 73 cases, while property crime and other Criminal Code offences are “well below” the respective five-year averages.

Commercial and other break-and-enters spiked — at least on paper — significantly in 2019, up 300 and 233 per cent. But the actual number of cases is low.

North Saanich did see a notable spike in thefts from vehicles, rising by 65 per cent to 38 in 2019, up from 23 in 2018.

Staff-Sgt. Wayne Conley of Sidney/North Saanich RCMP specifically highlighted this increase in his remarks to North Saanich council, noting that thefts of this sort are easily preventable.

The figures broadly confirm North Saanich’s status as the ‘safest’ of the three Peninsula communities. Drawing on the Violent Crime Severity Index (CSI), Macleans’ Canada’s Most Dangerous Places 2020 ranked North Saanich in 228th place out of 237 communities. The survey ranked Sidney in 211th and Central Saanich in 226th.

wolfgang.depner@

peninsulanewsreview.com



Wolf Depner

About the Author: Wolf Depner

I joined the national team with Black Press Media in 2023 from the Peninsula News Review, where I had reported on Vancouver Island's Saanich Peninsula since 2019.
Read more