“The significant growth of our services over the past two years has helped us achieve these results in collaboration with our community partners,” Guelph Police Chief Gord Cobey said in a news release. “While we are certainly pleased with these improvements in the Crime Severity Index, the data continues to indicate that as one of the fastest growing communities in Ontario we must continue to ensure proactive investments to maintain these improvements, support the well-being of members us and ensure our community remains safe, healthy and future-ready.” This overall decrease is a result of a 22% decrease in violent crime and a 2% decrease in non-violent crime. In the police-reported violent crime index, Guelph reported the lowest violent crime rate at 51.6 per 100,000 residents compared to other metropolitan areas in the country. For Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, the figure was 86.6. Guelph and Trois-Rivières, Que. were the only cities with no reported homicides in 2021. Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo had a six percent increase from 2020 to 2021 in its crime severity index due to an increase in theft over $5,000, breaking and entering. The 2021 sexual assault rate is 26 per 100,000 in Guelph. It is based on a population estimate of 100,000 inhabitants. There was no difference between 2020 and 2021. Threats in 2021 in Guelph were 118 per 100,000. 3% increase from 2020. Violent crime is down 7 per cent, property crime is down 4 per cent, drug offenses are down 20 per cent and other Criminal Code offenses are up 15 per cent from 2020 to 2021 in Guelph.
