Supt. Derek Cooke, the officer in charge of Langley RCMP detachment, delivered good news with the bad when he gave his quarterly report to Township council recently.
The good news was that in several categories, crime is down, in some cases significantly.
The bad is that in a trio of categories, including robbery, crime was up.
The most significant drop in crime in the Township was in B and Es which were down by 60 per cent. The theft of vehicles fell by 34 per cent, business break and enters were down by 27 per cent, and drug offences by 12 per cent. Incidences of theft from vehicles fell by six per cent.
The figures compare crimes in the first three months of this year to the corresponding months of 2010.
Between Jan. 1 and March 31 this year, there were 23 robberies, an increase of 53 per cent. Residential break-ins (91 compared to 86), rose by six per cent.
The increase in crimes of violence, such as assault, was up six per cent, from 292 to 309 cases.
“That is a significant concern to me,” Cooke said.
Among the strategic initiatives to make an even larger dent in crimes is to reduce drug and gang activity, and improve road safety and communication.