The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Flin Flon was again the safest of northern Manitoba's major centres last year, new crime figures show. In 2010, the city recorded a per-capita crime rate that was 4.6 times lower than that of The Pas and 3.3 times below that of Thompson. Flin Flon reported 11,442 Criminal Code violations per 100,000 people, comparing very favourably to both The Pas (52,483) and Thompson (37,553). And the difference was noticeable across the board. Flin Flon's violent crime rate (2,015) was over three times less that of Thompson (6,350) and almost that low when compared to The Pas (5,694). Break and enters were also less common in Flin Flon (766) contrasted to The Pas (1,024) and Thompson (939). The same was true of non-vehicular thefts under $5,000, where the rates were Flin Flon (1,116), The Pas (3,646) and Thompson (2,347). Flin Flon also boasted a lower rate of motor vehicle thefts (150) compared The Pas (295) and Thompson (476). In terms of property crime, Flin Flon's rate (5,363) was less than half that of both The Pas (14,583) and Thompson (12,451). Rare Also comparatively rare in Flin Flon were weapons violations. The city's rate (33) was more than 10 times lower than in The Pas (365) and also far lower than in Thompson (214). A common concern in Flin Flon is mischief, but here too the community had a far better rate (2,998) than The Pas (9,294) and Thompson (8,206). Flin Flon also had fewer drug busts than its northern neighbours. Its marijuana (100) and cocaine (83) trafficking rates stacked up well against The Pas (226 and 226) and Thompson (166 and 207). Likewise with incidents of uttering threats, with the rates in The Pas (816) and Thompson (1,021) much higher than that of Flin Flon (283). Impaired driving charges were also more prevalent in The Pas (764) and Thompson (669) than in Flin Flon (600), though the gap was not nearly as large. See 'Flin...' on pg. 6 Continued from pg. 1 Flin Flon proved to be a more serene community with a rate of peace disturbances (2,115) far behind those of The Pas (27,188) and Thompson (13,693). Even the criminals Flin Flon had appeared to be better behaved, on average, once they were caught. The city's rates of probation breaches (400) and failures to comply with court orders (583) were below both The Pas (868 and 1,684) and Thompson (525 and 2,664). As disconcerting as arson has been to Flin Flon Mounties and firefighters, it is less of an issue in this community (50) than in The Pas (174) or Thompson (90). And whereas Thompson (145) and The Pas (208) both had robbery rates in the triple digits, Flin Flon's rate was non-existent at 0. The Reminder obtained these recently released figures from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, which tabulates crime stats from all police detachments across the country. Lower rate This newspaper began reporting on the statistics in 2006. In every year since then, Flin Flon has recorded a lower overall crime rate than both of its northern neighbours. In past interviews, Flin Flon RCMP have noted there are several important factors to keep in mind when considering crime rate comparisons. Population stability is one. While there is a fair transient populace in Flin Flon, it would appear The Pas and Thompson have more individuals who fall into that category. Of course not all transients are criminals, but police believe that when someone has a stable reason for being in a community, they tend to stay on the right side of the law. Sgt. Nolan Suss said in a previous interview that non-permanent residents are skewing the crime stats in both The Pas and Thompson. There are also far more RCMP officers in The Pas and Thompson. Whereas Flin Flon employs 10 regular members and two northern traffic enforcement officers, The Pas and nearby OCN have 27 members. Thompson, with more than double population of the other two centres, has 36 members. With more uniformed men and women on the streets 24 hours a day, the odds are better that police will detect crime on their own without being summoned. Gang activity It is also worth mentioning that gang activity is a much greater concern in the two outside communities, driving the numbers up further. The size of a city should be contemplated, too. Thompson is the third-largest city in Manitoba. It's well established that the more people there are in an area, the more opportunities there are for criminal activity to occur. There other relevant factors whose impact cannot be verifiably measured. In a smaller city like Flin Flon, where many people are known to one another, there can be a reluctance to report crime because a witness may not want to get the perpetrator in trouble. This may be less of an issue in a place like Thompson. As well, according Sgt. Suss, Flin Flon is "at the end of the road," lacking the traffic flow of The Pas and Thompson. This again means less people and thus less opportunity for crime.8/26/2011
