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.
Flin Flon was once again the statistically safest of northern Manitoba's three major centres last year. Recently released figures show that Flin Flon had a per-capita crime rate of 15,047 offences for every 100,000 people in 2012. That was 3.7 times below the rate in The Pas (55,093) and 2.7 times lower than that of Thompson (40,980). In terms of violent crime, Flin Flon's rate (3,289) was 34 per cent lower than that of The Pas (5,024) and 45 per cent below that of Thompson (6,000). But Flin Flon was the only community of the three where violent crime increased last year, by a not-insignificant margin of 32 per cent. The Pas and Thompson, meanwhile, recorded violent-crime decreases of 17 and 11 per cent respectively. Of 17 specific crime types examined by The Reminder, Flin Flon's rate was higher compared to The Pas or Thompson in just one category. Incidents of uttering threats were 18 per cent higher in Flin Flon (714) than in The Pas (587). Thompson's rate was above both of its neighbours (811). In terms of aggravated assault, the most serious type of non-sexual assault, rates in Flin Flon (83) and The Pas (86) were essentially even. But in every other category examined, The Pas and Thompson recorded rates that exceeded Flin Flon's, often by substantial margins. Flin Flon's rate of break and enters (581) was 22 per cent lower than in The Pas (742) and 21 per cent lower than in Thompson (737). Property crime in both Thompson (13,000) and The Pas (12,224) was more than twice the problem it was in Flin Flon (6,062). Drug crime was almost one-fifth lower in Flin Flon (581) compared to The Pas (742). The drug problem was by far most severe in Thompson (1,142). Theft under $5,000 was three times more common in The Pas (2,952) than in Flin Flon (963). And the rate in Thompson (1,919) doubled that of Flin Flon. Assults Thompson had by far the highest rate of level 1 assaults, the least serious form of non-sexual assault (3,365). That was more than twice Flin Flon's rate (1,462) and 1.5 times that of The Pas (2,227). Weapons possession charges were relatively rare in each of the three communities. Thompson's rate (216) was more than double Flin Flon's (100) with The Pas in the middle (155). Significant disparities also existed in terms of mischief with Thompson (9,635) and The Pas (7,424) having a much more difficult time than Flin Flon (4,119). And while concerns have been raised over the amount of impaired driving in Flin Flon, the rate here (349) was considerably less than that of both The Pas (1,847) and Thompson (1,047). The Pas experienced major problems with youth crime, as evidenced by its rate of incidents involving the Youth Criminal Justice Act (881), which far exceeded Flin Flon (183) and Thompson (338). Disturbances to the peace were another challenge in The Pas, with a rate (28,073) that was 11 times higher than in Flin Flon (2,508). Thompson also had a much higher rate (13,682) than Flin Flon. The good news for all three communities is that total per-capita crime was down in each of Flin Flon (six per cent), Thompson (18 per cent) and The Pas (0.19 per cent). The Reminder obtained the crime figures from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, an arm of Statistics Canada that tabulates crime stats from all police detachments across the country. This newspaper began reporting on the statistics in 2006. In each 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. See 'None' on pg. Continued from pg. 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. Police and residents have also said that non-permanent residents are skewing the crime stats in both The Pas and Thompson. Manpower is another factor. The Pas and Thompson employ many more Mounties than Flin Flon, creating more opportunities for officers in the two former communities to detect crime on their own without being summoned. It is also worth mentioning that gang activity is a greater concern in both The Pas and Thompson, further driving up the numbers. The size of a community should be contemplated, too. Thompson is one of the largest cities in Manitoba. It's well established that the more people there are in an area, the more opportunities there are for criminal activity.
