Crime statistics recently released show a continued decrease in persons and property crimes and overall criminal code offences in the second quarter of 2013.

“We saw improvements in the first quarter of this year over the same time last year, and we continue to see a positive downward trend with fewer persons crimes, property crimes and overall criminal code offences being reported again in the second quarter,” said City Manager Craig Curtis.

The City has seen 16.3% fewer total persons crimes year to date, which includes everything from offences such as homicide, robbery, and assault. Total property crimes, which includes offences like break and enter, arson and fraud, are also down 12.6%, year to date.

Overall, the City saw 11.8% fewer criminal code offences this year to date.

“Red Deer is a safe community but there is always room to improve, and with a continued focus on community safety, crime prevention and policing, we aim to do just that,” said Mayor Morris Flewwelling. “These numbers speak to some of the work that’s already been done, and City council remains committed to continually improving the health and safety of our City.”

Crime statistics are released on a quarterly basis in April, July, October and January.

More specifically, robberies in the City are down 33% compared to this time last year with 56 to date in 2013 and 84 from January to July in 2012.

Sexual assaults are also down so far this year with a total of 47 being reported. Last year from January to July there were 56 sexual assaults reported. Break and enters have also decreased compared to this time last year. In 2012 there were 563 break and enters reported from January to July and this year there are a total of 418 reported break and enters to date.

-Fawcett