Traffic collisions in Delta continue to drop, according to fourth quarter statistics released last week by Delta police.
There were 342 collisions from October through December, versus 367 the previous year.
The department handed out 2,547 violation tickets in 2018 compared to 2,306 from 2017.
“The community has consistently told us that traffic is one of their top three priorities and we’ve focused our resources throughout 2018 to really drive down the number of collisions, particularly in our high-crash locations,” said Chief Neil Dubord.
Other statistics show that person offences were higher in the fourth quarter than the previous year, up 21 to 116. Person offences include crimes such as assault, arson and robbery.
Because of the increase in 2018 DPD analysts looked into the numbers and determined stranger assaults remained minimal, but assaults between family members, co-workers and persons known to each have shown an increase. About 77 per cent of assaults in Delta in 2018 involved people known to each other.
“When we look more closely at the person offences data over the past three years, we see that it is the number of assaults that have increased,” said Dubord. “This is similar to a trend being seen around Metro Vancouver, with person offences up around eight per cent for the year.
“It’s challenging to say exactly what has led to the increase as it could be a variety of factors, including increasing population, economic stresses or an increase in the willingness of the public to report domestic violence.”
Stats show a substantial decrease in theft from auto, a crime that plagued Delta throughout 2016 and 2017. Reported offences fell from 247 in the last quarter of 2017 to 145 in 2018.
“Theft from auto is really a crime of opportunity as no matter how many proactive patrols police do, we can’t be everywhere,” added Dubord. “Remove the opportunity and the incidences of this crime go down. I have to give credit to the public here, who I think has heeded the call to remove all valuable and personal items from their vehicles.”
Commercial and residential break and enters saw an increase in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared to 2017. Residential break and enters were up 10 to 54, while commercial break and enters saw a more significant jump from 24 to 46.
DPD noted a significant spike in commercial break and enters occurred in the Annacis Island region in the second half of 2018. Police have been working with businesses to reduce the incidences.
