Property crime rises in 2003: StatsCan

Property crime, including vehicle thefts and break-ins were on the rise in 2003, according to figures from Statistics Canada.StatsCan data shows the national property crime rate rose 4% in 2003, despite hitting a 20-year low in 2002. The 2003 rates buck a trend of flat and even decreasing property crime rates since 1991, and despite last year’s increase, property crime rates are still 26% less than a decade earlier.Break-ins were up 2% to 284,000 last year, mostly on a 6% increase in business break-ins. Residential break-ins increased just 1%.Auto theft was up 5%, with 171,000 vehicles taken in 2003. About 57% of these were cars, but the rate of theft for trucks, mini-vans and SUVs rose at four-times the pace of car thefts. Alberta saw its auto theft rate jump the highest, up 15% in 2003, largely in Edmonton. But Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, PEI and New Brunswick also saw double-digit theft rate increases.