Whitehorse Daily Star

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Supt. Chan (Dak) Daktari Dara

RCMP unperturbed by 2019 crime statistics

Crime was up in the Yukon by a substantial margin in 2019,

By Tim Giilck on March 1, 2021

Crime was up in the Yukon by a substantial margin in 2019, but the local RCMP superintendent was reluctant to read too much into those numbers.

Supt. Chan (Dak) Daktari Dara, the Yukon RCMP’s criminal operations officer, spoke to the report compiled by the Yukon Bureau of Statistics compiled from data collected by Statistics Canada.

“In 2019, police reported a total of 10,939 criminal incidents in Yukon: 2,088 violent Criminal Code violations; 4,560 property crimes; 3,072 ‘other’ Criminal Code violations; 929 Criminal Code traffic violations; and 290 Federal Statute violations,” the report reads.

“Yukon’s 2019 police-reported crime rate (23,792 incidents per 100,000 population) was 21.2 per cent higher than the revised 2018 rate (19,625 incidents per 100,000).”

The report, released in late 2020, also stated the Yukon’s 2019 crime rate was the third-highest in the country at 23,792 incidents per 100,000 population. (According to Statistics Canada’s estimate at the time of the crime data release, the Yukon’s population as of July 1, 2019 was 40,854).

Dara, who has been serving in the Yukon for more than a year, cautioned against reading too much into the report and the increase it documented for 2019.

“I would say ‘no’ to the Yukon being a dangerous place,” he told the Star.

“The Yukon is one of the most beautiful, and one of the safest, places I’ve worked and lived in,” Dara added. “That’s from my personal experience and perspective.

“I don’t want to cause a panic (over those numbers),” he said. “We have to look at the root causes, and it’s premature to say if Yukoners should be concerned.”

Dara said the RCMP will be taking an in-depth look at the report to gain a better perspective on what the numbers mean.

“The report does provide a certain indication of trends,” he said. “But we need a fulsome analysis to make sense of it. The report doesn’t provide a full picture.

“The statistics demonstrate a large increase, yes, but most of those are a significant increase in certain calls. Disturbing the peace is up considerably, but there are many things such calls represent.”

Dara suggested an unknown amount of that increase could be as simple as more people calling police with such complaints.

He added that could be an indication that more people are feeling more comfortable with interacting with the police. That would be a positive outcome, Dara suggested.

“We have to look at the root cause of these increases,” he said. “Is it population growth or social problems? Or both?”

One of the typical common factors in petty crimes, including property crimes and minor crimes against people, Dara said, is an increase in drug use.

Substance abuse and such crimes often go hand-in-hand, he said.

He was more troubled by the Yukon leading all of the northern territories in assaults, both physical and sexual.

In a second report, 61 per cent of female respondents indicated they had been sexually assaulted at least once in their lives.

“This is something that we have to eradicate,” he said. “That statistic is deeply troubling.”

According to the report, in 2019, the Yukon’s rate for violent Criminal Code violations (5,111) per 100,000 population was the third-highest in Canada following the Northwest Territories at 11,067 and Nunavut at 10,869.

The national rate was 1,277 per 100,000 population.

In 2019, there were 2,088 incidents of violent Criminal Code violations, an increase of 501, or 31.6 per cent, compared to the revised 2018 figure (1,587 incidents); and an increase of 624, or 42.6 per cent, compared to 2010 (1,464 incidents).

In the Yukon, there was one incident of homicide (first-degree murder) and one attempted murder in 2019.

There were 1,280 incidents of assault: the sum of assault levels 1-3 (1,259), assaults against a peace officer (20) and other assaults (1) accounted for 61.3 per cent of all violent Criminal Code violations.

Comments (11)

Up 15 Down 2

Groucho d'North on Mar 2, 2021 at 4:52 pm

Root causes? Hmm, I wonder what the root causes were for the two young gunmen from Port Alberni to go on a killing spree? Or the fellow presently in court for running down pedestrians with a rented van in Toronto? The Nova Scotia gunman- surely he had some root causes too.
Let's face it, some people are beyond logic and reason and commit horrific crimes for whatever reasons develop in their minds. The courts should deal with the crimes committed and leave the reasons why to the psychologists to decide while these criminals are in jail. I agree the Yukon is not nearly as bad as Vancouver, Toronto or any other metropolitain city, but we're catching up.

Up 13 Down 7

Run for your lives... on Mar 2, 2021 at 3:12 pm

BnR - Ye of little understanding here in these forums to do some grandstanding but it’s clear you are the victim of an intellectual gerrymandering.

A moral panic is something created to keep the fear and concern elevated so that the population can be more easily manipulated - Covid rule update #: ____?

For our friend Beaker the situation is much bleaker. Surely anyone can see that this shooting star is no high streaker. The reporting of the stats now for 2019 is embedded in the context of the present day - It must be hard to think sometimes - eh? With Covid woes we hear of crime stat blows while locked away in our bubbles of those we knows - Domestic Violence on the rise the psychological distress is no surprise.

Maybe you’re wise or maybe you’ve bought the lies but it’s people like you who help a pandemic realize.
Was that you two I just saw coming out of the Herbary?

BnR and Beaker - LOL, ROFL, WTF, SMH, and some more LOL!

Up 17 Down 2

bonanzajoe on Mar 2, 2021 at 3:06 pm

Arn Anderson: I was criminally violated 4 times in the last 15 years. I reported the first one, and was told to suck it up - not the exact wording mind you, but the message was quite clear. So, in view of that, I just sucked up the next 3. Didn't bother to report.

Up 13 Down 9

Arn Anderson on Mar 2, 2021 at 10:11 am

This is only reported crimes and doesn't include unreported or tossed crimes. RCMP are master manipulators of juking the stats.

Up 9 Down 13

BnR on Mar 2, 2021 at 6:24 am

The first commenter is proof that commenting while inebriated is a bad idea.

Up 21 Down 4

bonanzajoe on Mar 1, 2021 at 7:47 pm

Here's a dumb thought. Since most of the crimes are committed by the same criminals, why not keep them in jail until they are properly rehabilitated. That of course might mean getting rid of most of our judges and appointing judges with *a**$

Up 21 Down 10

Keep handing out that Cerb! on Mar 1, 2021 at 4:52 pm

First we give out the cerb, people buy drugs, get more addicted
then need to steal more to pay for drug addition.

Profit!

Up 15 Down 5

Juniper Jackson on Mar 1, 2021 at 4:08 pm

RCMP knew this was coming. They deal with our liberal courts all the time. They are probably all ready for some vigilante justice to get started. ..if it hasn't already.

Up 12 Down 8

Beaker on Mar 1, 2021 at 4:01 pm

@run.... there are talking about 2019 stats....pre covid. With a straight face.

Up 13 Down 16

JC on Mar 1, 2021 at 3:58 pm

Considering RCMP have within their ranks, statistically speaking, more spousal abusers than are found in the general population, I'm reeeeeal confident they're looking to "eradicate" sexual assault.

What a farcical assertion from the Starlight Tour Group aka the RCMP.

Up 33 Down 31

Run for your lives... on Mar 1, 2021 at 2:42 pm

No, of course not. Fear not the rise of crime in the middle of a pandemic, psychological strain, polarized communities on the basis of race, and a general contempt for law and authority, particularly those who enforce it... Fear not... Remain in your homes indefinitely while learning not to trust in others because they may be carriers of the dreaded Covid... It's everywhere, it’s everywhere... Fear not... While the economy sinks faster than a led balloon and jobs disappear and bankruptcy is imminent... Fear not... For there is no escape from the Great Reset it is only your minds the Liberals beset... Fear not... FFS! LOL!

I Dare you to read this article with a straight face!

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