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j-..- NEW SPRT tiZO-Yb 1ARTS & ENTERTAINMENk 7audcîLu ailol for gas sale Coach of the Mont going ta peace forum A MTRLAO OMUNTYNESPPagVOe45 104 PIage MAC2l20415 GTnldd 4PGSUin omncto oBudBte mnte A convoy of about 200 tractors makes its way eastbound on Hwy. 401, just west of Mississauga Road, Wednesday morning enroute to a mass demnonstration at Oue.n's Park. Inset, a tractor displays a placard sending a message ta the Ontario government. Farmers, unhappy with a number of agrlculture-related government policies, entered the highway at Winston Churchill Boulevard at 9 a.m. Photos by GRAHAM PAINE Crime's down, but it's more violent Last year's crime statistics show crime was at a 30-year 1owv in Halton last year. Hosvever. violent crime - vhile lower in num- bers- accounted for more of the total number of offences last year and counterfett crime Nvas; on the nise by nearly eight Per cent. T'he statistics were released earlier thts %veek by the Halton Regtonal Poltce Servtce. which announced criminal offences per 1(30.000 citizens are the lowest tn more than 30 years. Halton Police Chtet Ean Algar %%as cautiously optimtsttc. ThMe encouragtng stattstics conftrm that Halton continues to be one of the safest communities in Canada wýith a population tn excess of 100.000 people," satd Chtef Algar. Ho)wever. hie added. -Only tIse absence of an) crime completely ts xvor- thy of boasttng. Although 1 am very pleased with our numbers and the hard work of our organtza- tion. there ts sttll work to be done.- Chtef Algar vo\xxed the police Nvill conttnuc to partner and cottsult svtth the cormmunity "as part of our conttnued commttment to keeptng our com- munity safe.- Analysis of the stattstics usdtcates that 1,312 fesser criminal offences occurred in 2004 <16.746) than svere recorded tn 2003 (18,058>. 'his represents a decrease in the crime rate of 10. 1 per cent. Last year's clearance rate (39.6 per cent) ssas also higher than tn 2003 (37.7 per cent). However. total calîs for servioce tncreased by 660. or 0.7 per cent -97.617 - in 2004 com- pared to 96.957 tn 2003. Vtolent crime offences decreased fromn 1,959 in 2003 to 1,844 tn 2004. representing a s, iolent crime rate decrease of 8.8 per cent. Hossever violent crimes accounted for more of aIl crimtnal offences in 2004 -Il per cent compared to 2003 -10.8 per cent. Property crimes decreased from 9.618 tn 2003 to 8,445 in 2004. That's a 14.9 per cent decrease in the property crime rate. 'he category -other crimes" \vas also doNAn sltghtly. by 0.4 per cent. tn 200,4 (from 6.481 to 6.457 oflences> representing a rate decrease of 3.5 per cent. Hossever. counterfeit olfences sshich faîl ssoithin thts crime group svas up 7.8 per cent tast year -a jump of 125 offences from 1.596 in 2003 to 1.712 in 2004. In 2002. onl> 692 counterteit offences were recorded. W Inlside Comment........ 6-7 Datoline ........18-19 Classified .......25-28 Real Estate .......812 eFAIDAY, MARCH 11. CMMb* UhhMFuWY. FMu5p. MMa..kh ae.h h2MoW qWFuMihi. *Pd CW" .~nELàSIff Whtq.Usmkt~.mUt.~r ae www.miltontoyota.com