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https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pm...st-year-police

Edmonton recorded highest number of violent crimes last year

Sean Tout, the force’s executive director of information management and analytics, said the trend of violence has continued so far this year. Violent crimes in Edmonton during the first quarter of 2023 were up by about six per cent compared to the same period in 2022.

“The volume of violent crime, the severity of violent crime and violence perpetrated against these victims continues to increase in the city of Edmonton at alarming rates,” Tout told a news conference Friday.

Last year, at least 15,040 violent crimes were reported in Edmonton — an increase of 16.5 per cent from 2021, the data suggests. Tout said assaults, intimidation and robbery saw the biggest jump between 2021 and 2022.

Tout said the severity of violence against victims “is equally concerning.” In 2022, there was a 25 per cent hike in violence that involved a firearm.


Edmonton police data shows that 2,880 people were arrested and released in 2017. Of those, 1,784 people, or 60 per cent, were involved in violent crimes again, including three homicides between 2017 and 2019.

After Bill C-75 was passed, at least 3,647 people were arrested and released in 2020 in Edmonton.

Of those, 2,482 people, or 68 per cent, were engaged in violent crimes again, with 26 homicides between 2020 and January 2023.


“We know we have a small number of individuals disproportionately responsible for a large number of the volume of occurrences that equates to a large resource draw in identifying these individuals and holding them to account,” said Tout.