You, your family, and your property are safer tonight than at any time in the last five years, according to crime statistics obtained exclusively by CTV on Tuesday.
An RCMP report shows that B.C. is leading the curve of falling crime rates, with the Lower Mainland seeing a crime rate drop of 20 per cent since 2003.
Even Surrey -- once known as the car theft capital of Canada -- is showing a strong improvement, the statistics say.
All this comes from a novel approach to catching people who steal bikes, break into homes, and vandalize property: focus on the people who do it the most.
"We think this is attributable to a strategic focus on prolific offenders," Allan Castle, an RCMP criminal analyst, told CTV.
"Some people are capable of racking up five or ten convictions per year, which is quite a feat when you think about it," he said.
In the study, Toronto's property crime dropped two per cent from 2003 to 2007. Montreal's crime dropped four per cent.
But the Lower Mainland was down nearly 20 per cent in just three years.
Criminologist Robert Gordon said that the RCMP statistics are predicated on people reporting crime to the police, which he says they simply don't do.
"If for example somebody loses $500 worth of stuff in a house or a car and the insurance deductible is much higher than that, so they frequently don't bother to report it," he said.
A better approach to measuring crime would be to poll victims, he said, adding that would present a much clearer picture.
In Surrey, police have had the most success, showing a 20 per cent decrease in auto theft. Officers had to look at a small number of people who commit the most crime.
That also has to do with making sure that police have a plan for mental health, addiction and social services, said Dianne Watts.
"Commercial break and enters are down," said Watts.
And Vancouver has a similar program targeting chronic offenders, said Tim Fanning.
"We monitor them, we target them," said Fanning. "When they're arrested we interview them in jail and we get them resources they need whether they're going to be incarcerated or whether they're going to be let back out on the street to deal with why they're stealing."
