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Police explain 40% drop in downtown-area crime

Sudbury.com reached out to Greater Sudbury police to add more context to 2022 violent and property crime totals, which dropped overall and varied between neighbourhoods
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Two members of the Greater Sudbury Police Service community response unit on patrol in the city's downtown; Const. Shane Neeley, at left, and Const. Ron Chisholm.

Increased foot traffic and police partnerships with various organizations helped push crime rates down in Sudbury’s downtown and surrounding neighbourhoods last year.

So described Sgt. Matt Hall from Greater Sudbury Police Service’s Community Response Unit, which organizes many of the police partnerships in question.

While Greater Sudbury’s combined property and violent crime rate dropped by 11 per cent last year, the city’s most notable change took place downtown, where the rate dropped by 39.7 per cent.

The downtown’s violent crime dropped by 50 per cent (to 242 cases), while property crime dropped by 32.2 per cent (to 450 cases). 

Neighbourhoods to its immediate north, the Donovan and Flour Mill, also saw their crime rates plummet considerably, with a respective 10.4 per cent and 30.8 per cent.

The earlier months of the pandemic saw rates increase, in part, because no-one was around, Hall said. 

“You see more uptake in crime because there’s no one around,” he said, echoing a sentiment shared by Downtown Sudbury Business Improvement Area managing director Kyle Marcus.

In addition to 2022 serving as a course-correcting product of the changing times, Hall credits police partnerships with other organizations as helping drive down crime rates overall, but particularly in the downtown neighbourhoods.

The police department’s Community Response Unit meets regularly with organizations such as Downtown Sudbury and various Community Action Networks, to discuss crime trends and listen to people about what’s going on in their respective neighbourhoods.

From there, police reach out to social services and outreach programs to link people with services they need. Since approximately 83 per cent of calls police respond to are not criminal in nature, other agencies are often better-equipped to deal with them.

“We’ve really noticed in the last year where we’ve partnered with different agencies, specifically with the city and social services, bylaw, EMS, (Canadian Mental Health Association), where we’re able to go into different parts of neighbourhoods and really focus as a community approach to that challenging going on in that neighbourhood,” Hall said.

“We’ve taken a real community approach, where ... we approach it together and address those concerns.”

If the underlying cause of a call to police is addictions or inability to afford housing, for example, Hall said there are agencies in the community they can link them up with to help out.

“It’s all about what that member needs in that specific moment and try and cater to that need,” he said. 

“Once they receive the services they need and are provided with those supports, you see the calls to 911 for police or EMS start to decline.”

Hall also credited increased winter patrols due to the addition of police fat bikes to the city’s downtown core as contributing toward dropping crime rates, while Mayor Paul Lefebvre said city council’s decision to make a downtown security program permanent has also helped. . 

Although crime went down in most neighbourhoods in 2022, it jumped most notably in Hanmer (32.27 per cent), the Minnow Lake area (20.86 per cent) and New Sudbury East of Barrydowne (20.81 per cent).

In Hanmer, property crime was up 19.91 per cent, and violent crime was up 57.84 per cent.

As with violent crime in general, most involve people known to each other, Greater Sudbury Police Service spokesperson Kaitlyn Dunn told Sudbury.com.

Of the 66 assaults recorded in Hanmer last year (up from the 38 in 2021), 48 per cent were domestic assaults or family-related.

Some of the assaults are related to property theft, wherein a property owner caught someone attempting to steal something. There were 90 thefts recorded in Hanmer last year — an 87.5 per cent jump from 2021.

“The majority of those break and enters were to sheds or garages,” Dunn said, adding that one suspect is allegedly responsible for the majority of the incidents and has since been arrested.

Shoplifting in general saw an increase when pandemic restrictions began lifting, and Hanmer was no exception, she said, citing 15 cases in 2022 compared to six teh previous year. The LCBO and Canadian Tire were shoplifters’ main targets.

People can also now report shoplifting online, which she said makes it easier for people to report.

In Minnow Lake, assaults were primarily between people known to each other. Similarly to Hanmer, property thefts resulted in some assaults. 

In New Sudbury East of Barrydowne, violent crime increased slightly while property crime jumped by 28.74 per cent, including a doubling of “Possession of Stolen Goods” and 89 per cent jump in shoplifting.

Although these numbers represent the number of criminal cases Greater Sudbury police have been responding to, they do not factor in the approximately 83 per cent of calls they respond to each year which aren’t criminal in nature. Traffic offences are also not included.

Editor's Note: Subsequent to this story's publication, GSPS updated their 2022 crime statistics. Our associated story can be found by clicking here.

Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.