» » »

Component Summary
The BC Crime Statistics component of the BC Alcohol and Other Drug Monitoring Project seeks to map out crimes involving alcohol and other drugs across different regions of BC as well as to monitor trends over time.

BC Crime Statistics

The Crime Statistics component of the BC Alcohol and Other Drug Monitoring Project seeks to map out crimes involving alcohol and other drugs across different regions of BC as well as to monitor trends over time. The AOD Monitoring Project collects and organizes multiple streams of data related to risky substance use and associated harms in BC. This project is paving the way for developing a comprehensive national system to collect and compare substance-related trends and harms across the country.

Project Findings

Drug Offences

Many crimes are committed by those who are under the influence of drugs, with a large number of offences involving property crimes. There are a few significant hot spots for non-cannabis drug offences in BC, with Northern Health, Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health authorities all reporting the highest rates of non-cannabis drug offences above 500 per 100,000 population.

Violent Crimes

Violent offences are commonly alcohol related and the rates of violent crime are much higher than those of property crimes or non-cannabis drug offences in BC. The areas in and around Vancouver in the Vancouver Coastal Health authority and New Westminster in the Fraser Health authority have some of the highest rates of violent offences with figures greater than 5 per 1,000 population.

Property Crimes

Property crime is often related to illicit drug use, and many of these types of crimes are committed to obtain money to purchase drugs.