North Bay's Crime Severity Index is up

The Crime Severity Index is higher in North Bay.

That’s the word from North Bay Deputy Police Chief Scott Tod who says the stats reflect 2016 figures and are compared to the year before.

He says the CSI is up across the country, but not to the degree that it is in North Bay.

As for what’s happening on the street, “A lot of it is drug related. We have seen a number of individuals that have come from outside the North Bay area and brought drugs into the community and are trafficking in the community,” he says.

The index looks at violent and non-violent crimes, with violent crimes like homicide, assaults and sexual assaults scoring higher in the index.

When compare to other northern centres, Tod says North Bay is in the middle.

“We generally sit in position 3 or 4 within that chart of 5 on this CSI and that’s statistically similar across the last 4 years,” he says.

The other communities cited include Timmins, Thunder Bay, Sudbury and Sault Ste Marie.

Of note, there was some good news with crime stats.

The number of sexual assaults decreased from 59 at the end of July 2016, to 43 so far this year.