Quarterly reports going before the Vancouver Police Board on Thursday show violent crime in the city was up six per cent in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period last year. The Public Safety Indicators reports for Q1 and Q2 represent the first comprehensive crime data provided to the board and the public all year—delivered one month before the city’s election. So far this year, the number of violent crimes reported to police has increased in every district. For the first quarter of 2026, violent crime saw a 12.3 per cent jump from the same three-month period last year, and was up slightly compared to Q1 2024 as well. “Despite this uptick in Q1 2026, violent crime in Vancouver remains aligned with the average for Q1—there have been 1,366 violent crimes in Q1, on average, in the past five years,” the report to the police board says. The second quarter of 2026 saw a 1.4 per cent year-over-year increase in violent crime, bringing the total year-to-date percentage to six. “This increase was driven primarily by the first quarter of the year,” the report says. “For context, this year’s (year-to-date) violent crime is still 2.4 per cent lower than the (year-to-date) average of the previous three years.” Crime statistics, as police, politicians and experts routinely point out, only ever reflect offences that are reported. A graph showing quarterly violent crime numbers dating back to 2021 shows a peak in the third quarter of each year. Data for the third quarter of 2026 will not be presented to the board until after the municipal election. The Public Safety Indicators report ends by saying crime remains a significant concern for the city. “The (Vancouver Police Department’s) 2024 Community Satisfaction Survey showed that 80 per cent of respondents were concerned about crime in Vancouver and the City of Vancouver’s 2026 Civic Satisfaction Survey showed that crime remained one of the top five priorities of both residents and businesses,” the report concludes. The increase comes on the heels of a year in which Vancouver’s violent crime rate reached a historic low, which is being touted by Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC Party in its re-election campaign. “In 2025, Vancouver achieved its lowest violent crime rate in 23 years as a direct result of ABC’s decision to fully invest in our city’s police, fire, and mental health services,” a spokesperson for the party said when CTV News asked for reaction to the most recent statistics. “Crime, especially violent crime, is down in Vancouver because of ABC’s investments in policing, but street disorder remains. This disorder is related to provincial drug and housing policies, which are increasingly leaving our most vulnerable people in distress on our streets.” When it comes to encouraging crime statistics, Vancouver is not unique. According to Statistics Canada’s most recent Crime Severity Index, police-reported crime dropped five per cent per cent last year, nation-wide, when compared with 2024. “A decline in the CSI was observed across all provinces and territories in 2025, except in New Brunswick and Nunavut. Similarly, most of Canada’s census metropolitan areas also recorded declines,” according to StatsCan. When it comes to what municipal police departments are seeing in major cities, Vancouver recorded a drop of five per cent. Toronto saw a double-digit decrease of 12.6. In Montreal, the drop was 3.5 per cent. The Crime Severity Index is different from the so-called conventional crime rate, which measures “crime volume relative to population.” The Crime Severity Index measures the number of crimes but also assigns “greater weight to more serious offences,” according to StatsCan.
