After ranking number one in the Most Dangerous Cities list by Macleans Magazine a few years ago, Prince George has enjoyed a steady decline since then.
Mayor Lyn Hall says the shift occurred back in 2015 when the RCMP Superintendent sought increases to his budget to focus on the downtown as well as various issues like vehicle thefts.
Hall believes, the increased resources has reflected positively on the dropping crime stats.
“And I think that has really provided more resources for the RCMP to deploy in areas that were impacting if you will sort of the standings that Macleans looks at, I think that has been a real positive in our community.”
“I think it’s an indication on what the RCMP are doing in the community as well as our bylaw enforcement team but certainly the RCMP’s plan and programs that they have in place is a big part in the reduction.”
The second-term mayor adds this is an important part of the process in making Prince George the safest community it can be.
“We want to continue for our rating to go down, that’s important for us. We felt the impact when Macleans rated us number one. Every time you googled the city of Prince George that ranking would come up and that is not our community. The positive thing for us to be able to go out and says look this is the hard work we are doing.”
Among the numbers in this year’s report, Prince George has recorded four homicides, 50 sexual assaults, and about 700 break and enters.