Winnipeg police explain why report shows 100% homicide solve rate in 2014

The Winnipeg Police Service's latest crime figures raised some eyebrows by saying 100 per cent of homicides were solved last year, even though at least one high-profile case — the death of Tina Fontaine — has not led to any arrests.

The 15-year-old girl's body was recovered from the Red River in August 2014, and police are investigating her death as a homicide. No arrests have not been announced to date.

But the police service's 2014 statistical report, released on Wednesday, shows a "clearance rate" of 100 per cent for homicide cases that year and the previous year.

• Read the full report here
• Police-reported crime rate falls to lowest level since 1969, Statistics Canada says

In fact, several unsolved cases from last year are not reflected in the report, said Supt. Danny Smyth, who explained how the numbers are crunched.

"Sometimes homicides are not cleared on the same year that the actual homicide occurred. So [the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics] and our statisticians, we don't go back historically to change information. So, for example, if a homicide occurred in 2010 but it was solved in 2014, the clearance rate actually shows up in '14," Smyth told reporters.

"Even though I think memory serves that we have probably three unsolved homicides that actually occurred in 2014, the box for clearance rate shows 100 per cent because it's catching up over time, so we had … some clearances that had occurred earlier on."

The police service issued another clarification on Wednesday afternoon, saying two homicides and a motor vehicle crash that killed a pedestrian remain under investigation.

Further clarification

In an email responding to "a number of media enquiries" about the 2014 homicide clearance rate, a police spokesperson said uniform crime reporting (UCR) scoring rules set by Statistics Canada calculate "the number of cases cleared per calendar year, divided by the number of homicide events in a year. This is the reported clearance rate."

"It is possible for the clearance rate to exceed 100%, but the default position when that occurs is 100%. This is what occurred in 2014. Cases from previous years were cleared, bringing UCR reported clearance rate to the default position of 100%," the spokesperson wrote.

Twenty-five homicides were reported to Winnipeg police in 2014, which is the same number as in 2013, according to the report.

Violent crime down 3%

The overall number of criminal offences went up by one per cent between 2013 and 2014, but the number of violent crimes decreased by three per cent. The increase to the overall number of offences was a result of more property crimes — up four per cent — and traffic offences.

Despite the decrease in the number of violent crime offences, the report says the rate of violent crime in the city remains above the national average.

However, the police service notes that the 2014 overall crime and violent crime totals are eight per cent lower than their five-year averages, and property crime is nine per cent lower than its five-year average.

Smyth said the latest statistics are a testament to the work that police, under the leadership of Chief Devon Clunis, are doing in the community these days.

"Crime prevention through social development has really become a driving theme for us — a lot of work with youths in the schools, lots of preventative initiatives going on that we hope, over time, start to contribute to the continuing decline," Smyth told reporters.

That sentiment was echoed by Annette Champion-Taylor, program co-ordinator with the William Whyte Residents Association in the North End, who said the community's relationship with police is improving.

"People are getting to know the officers, they're seeing that they have a presence," she said.

"They saw from the community clean-up for example that the police and other organizations, city departments are really quite willing to help with the neighbourhood issues."

But Aline Couture, who lives in the North End, says she avoids the streets and worries about her elderly mother's safety.

"Maybe they should have cops walking the streets 24-7 [to] keep an eye on the older people and watch out for what's going on here," she said.

More underreported crimes being reported

According to the report, the number of aggravated assaults went up 20 per cent between 2013 and 2014 — from 112 to 134 offences — while other types of assault went down.

The overall number of sexual assaults have gone up nine per cent from the previous year, but Smyth said he believes there's a reason for that.

"Our services take an effort to try to really work with the community — a lot of initiatives with victims' services, with the province — to try to really encourage people to come forward and report," he said.

"I know we see a slight increase in some numbers there. I'm not finding it alarming at this point, although I do think it may well be reflecting in the fact that people are coming forward to report an … underreported crime."

But the report says the number of counterfeiting offences increased 53 per cent from 49 in 2013 to 75 in 2014, while the number of child pornography-related offences went up 83 per cent from 12 to 22 incidences in the same period.

The number of prostitution-related offences decreased by 43 per cent, from 90 incidences in 2013 to 51 in 2014.

Overall property crime has gone up by four per cent, the report says, with the biggest change in the number of offences related to possessing stolen property — a 31 per cent increase between 2013 and 2014.