What the latest crime severity index numbers for Waterloo region really says about community

New data from Statistics Canada is offering a broad picture of the number of crimes happening in local communities and the severity of those crimes.

The data shows Waterloo region is the second highest in the Statistics Canada list of 15 urban areas in Ontario, but one expert says that doesn't necessarily mean the region is crime-ridden.

Jennifer Schulenberg, an associate professor of sociology and legal studies at the University of Waterloo, joined CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition with host Craig Norris to help break down the data for Waterloo region.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the full audio of this interview at the bottom of this article.

Craig Norris: This new data set is called the Crime Severity Index. Let's jump off here by talking about how it's calculated.

Jennifer Schulenberg: The crime severity index is a measure of the seriousness of the crime. Crime rates will tell us how much crime is happening and this measure allows us to understand how it's changing over time and comparing it. It takes the most serious offence committed and then it's assigned a point.

So gaming and betting is six and then murder is over 7,000 [points]. That is based on sentencing data and it's standardized, so that allows those comparisons.

CN: Waterloo region has the second highest crime severity rate compared to other populations of 100,000 people or more in Ontario. So what does this mean for our region?

JS: The crime severity index isn't meant to be used in isolation and it most certainly isn't a universal indicator of safety in the city because it doesn't take account for changes in demographics, so for instance, the [Highway] 401 corridor or in some areas where there's a lot of tourism.

It also doesn't take into account the experiences of crime. Everybody experiences policing differently and you can't use just one measure. So in Waterloo region actually, our numbers have all decreased.

So the overall seriousness that covers all offences is down 4.4 per cent from last year. Our violent crime severity index is down 5.7 per cent and our nonviolent is down 3.7 per cent.

But in the meantime, the national average, we're both still below that. And across Canada, it's increased two per cent overall and three per cent for non-violent.

CN: Non-violent includes traffic stops?

JS: Yes. The other thing to take into consideration is a lot of these jurisdictions have more than one police service that are contributing to those numbers.

And in our case, we have the Ontario Provincial Police, who takes care of the 401 as well as Highway 7 between Kitchener, Waterloo and Guelph and [Highway] 85 and [Highway] 8. And those numbers are part of it.

The other thing to remember is that if you see a radical increase in a certain type of offence, that can drag it up or down. And this year, there's been a 52 per cent increase in child pornography. So that has been the largest contributor to the increases nationwide.

CN: And why is that?

JS: Because sometimes we're targeting certain offences based on identified needs in the community. We've seen motor vehicle theft, but the reality is, is that it's still 50 per cent lower than it was 25 years ago.

And the other factors to take into account are with the 401, we're dealing with a lot of sex trafficking, drugs and weapon trafficking, stolen vehicles. And of course with the motels, there's a lot of child trafficking, youth trafficking that occurs. And these are important things to consider.

CN: Going back to the auto theft, there have been stories that make it sound like it's an epidemic right now, but you're saying that's because police are targeting motor vehicle theft right now?

JS: So motor vehicle theft is up, but again, that's because we've had all these joint task force to deal with the increases. So the more you target something, the more offences you're going to see in the police-reported statistics.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that motor vehicle theft necessarily is up. It just could mean that there are more of them being reported or cleared.

CN: What are some of the other factors that may have a big impact on the the crime severity index?

JS: Every year, you're going to have variations in the types of offences that will have a large impact to either increase or decrease the crime severity index. And it's important because this helps police services distinguish what factors they need to focus on.

So, for instance, the hate crimes are also significantly increased, which should surprise nobody. And it also should surprise nobody that it's particularly increased for [people who are] Black, as well as Jewish, Muslim and Arabs.

CN: What would you say the overarching story is here? What's the big take away from these numbers?

JS: The big take away is we're measuring how serious the crime is that is being reported to the police. You need to take into account these numbers within that larger context.

So, for instance, what types of crimes are contributing to these increases? It doesn't necessarily mean it's these serious assaults. It could be a low-level assault that might have involved one punch versus somebody who takes a knife.

LISTEN | Policing specialist breaks down latest data on crime severity:

The Morning Edition - K-W6:40Are our neighbourhoods safe? Policing specialist from UW breaks down latest data on crime severity