The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, Ju ly 14 ,2 02 2 | 8 Summer Sale (905) 333-6670 3225 Fairview St., Burlington elizabethinteriors.com F L O O R M O D E L C L E A R A N C E Stop by our Showrooms! *See Store for Details* Crime in Halton experi- enced a bit of a rebound in 2021, according to Halton police. Here are eight signifi- cant changes in 2021 crime statistics Halton police re- ported during a meeting of the police board earlier this year. • There were 1,643 more criminal offences reported in Halton in 2021 (11,496) compared to 2020 (9,853). This works out to an in- crease of 14.1 per cent when regional population growth is taken into ac- count. There were 12,174 criminal offences reported in Halton in 2019. • There were 2,091 inci- dents of violent crime re- ported in 2021 (assaults, robberies, attempted mur- ders and more) compared to 2,160 in 2020. This repre- sents a decrease of 5.3 per cent when population growth is considered. Po- lice said these crimes ac- counted for 18.2 per cent of all criminal offences in Halton 2021, which is down from 21.9 per cent in 2020. There were 2,150 violent crime incidents in 2019. • There was a 15 per cent increase in property crime ( such as break-ins, theft) from 6,490 incidents in 2020 to 7,461 incidents in 2021. There were 8,150 property crime incidents reported in 2019. • Other crimes (disturb- ing the peace, bail viola- tions, prostitution and more) were up 61.8 per cent from 1,203 incidents in 2020 to 1,944 in 2021. Police said this increase was driven primarily by administra- tion of justice violations due to the resumption of court operations in the wake of pandemic lock- downs. • Motor vehicle colli- sions were 0.6 per cent higher with 6,208 crashes in 2021 compared to 6,170 crashes in 2020. Property damage collisions were down from 5,498 to 5,435 (-1.1 per cent). Injury colli- sions were up 15.4 per cent from 664 in 2020 to 766 in 2021. Fatal collisions de- creased slightly from 8 in 2020 to 7 in 2021. • Impaired driving ap- prehensions were up 12.1 per cent in 2021 from 437 in- cidents the previous year to 490. • Some of the crimes on the rise in Halton include: auto theft which is up 59.4 per cent from 547 incidents in Halton in 2020 to 872 in- cidents in 2021. Theft over $5,000 also saw a 56.8 per cent rise from 88 incidents to 138. Fraud saw a 22.5 per cent increase from 830 inci- dents to 1,017. Instances of sexual assault also rose 28.3 per cent from 166 inci- dents to 213. On the other hand, homicides and at- tempted homicides each experienced a 50 per cent drop in 2021 with two homi- cides and four attempted homicides taking place. Robberies were down 20 per cent in 2021 with 68 in- cidents compared to 85 in 2020. Arson saw the biggest decrease, 70.6 per cent, with five incidents taking place in 2021 compared to 17 in 2020. • The crime clearance rate in Halton was 43.8 per cent in 2021, which is down from 52.1 per cent in 2020. The rate was at 51 per cent in 2019. The clearance rate is the percentage of the to- tal number of crimes that occur, which are solved (cleared). EIGHT FINDINGS FROM HALTON POLICE REPORT ON CRIME IN 2021 DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com CRIME Halton police report shows increase in crime in 2021. Graham Paine/Metroland