While break-and-enters to homes and businesses were down last year, it seems shoplifting and sexual offences were on the rise.
Shoplifting increased by 54 per cent in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to Richmond RCMP, outlined in a report going to city council’s community safety meeting next week.
In December alone, there were 103 shoplifting incidents reported to Richmond RCMP, 47 per cent more than the previous December.
Police, however, were only able to identify suspects in 29 per cent of the reported incidents.
As for sexual offence files, there was a nine per cent increase in 2023 compared to the previous year.
In December, there were 24 sexual offence files of which 42 per cent were deemed sexual assaults. For these files, 19 suspects were identified.
Business B&Es were down by 16 per cent in 2023, compared to the previous year, and residential B&Es were down marginally.
In December, there were 16 break-and-enters into businesses and 33 residential B&Es.
While the number of residential break-ins in December was double compared to November, overall they were down two per cent in 2023 compared to 2022.
The Richmond RCMP report will be dealt with at next week’s community safety meeting.
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