Property crime down, personal crime up in May

Windsor police have reported significant changes in the crime rate year-to-year for May.

The crime stats for Windsor and Amherstburg were released by the service on Wednesday morning, and showed a big drop in occurrences of crime against property, both year-to-year and trending in 2024 to date.

However, police reported that crimes against people went up in both sets of statistics, though by single-digit percentages.

Compared to May 2023, property crime decreased by 31.5 per cent, with police taking 786 reports last month. These consist of arson, mischief, theft, fraud, and break-and-enter.

In 2024 to date, a total of 4,784 property crimes were reported, a decline of 3.7 per cent over the same period last year.

Personal crime, which includes murder, sexual assault, assault, robbery, and harassment, went up 3.1 per cent in May compared to 2023, with 297 reports taken.

For year-to-date, crimes against people went up 4.8 per cent, with 1,410 incidents between January and May 2024.

For Criminal Code violations not falling under property or personal, Windsor police said there was a 41.6 per cent decline for May, compared to last year. For 2024 to date, the drop was 14 per cent.

Child pornography, non-violent weapons offences, betting and gaming offences, and administration of justice violations are included in the latter category.

Police also did a ward-by-ward breakdown of crime for May, for Windsor only. Ward 3, which includes the downtown core, had the highest rates of both personal and property crime. Ward 1 had the lowest of both.