Reading the newspapers you would think that Toronto is a hotbed of violent crime, but that is just not so. A new crime severity index has been developed with input from police, justice officials and academics. Using this new crime index Statistics Canada reports that in 2007 Toronto had the lowest ranking out of the 27 metropolitan areas in Canada and that Toronto also had the lowest rate of police-reported crimes for cities in Canada. According to the Police-Reported Crime Severity Index (PRCSI) which measures the severity of crimes that are reported to police:
•    Police-reported crime in Canada in 2007 is less serious overall than it was 10 years ago
•    The incidence of the seven most serious offences, including murder, sex assault, assault, and breaking and entering are down 14% from a year ago
•    Crime was less serious overall in Toronto in 2007 than it was in the country’s other major cities including Montreal and Vancouver.
•    Toronto scored a 65.6 on the PRCSI, which is well below the national average of 94.6
•    Overall crime severity was highest in Regina, with an index value of 189
•    British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan had a much higher crime severity index than the rest of Canada

This doesn’t sound like the headlines in Toronto papers, does it? This only goes to prove the old theory that bad news sells so it keeps making the headlines and the front pages. Personally, I’d like to see more of a balance in reporting. Can we please have more good news stories and less fear mongering?