Violent crime rises in Edmonton, overall crime lower: Report

A large police presence was called to a McDonald’s Wednesday after two people got into a fight that led to the use of bear spray.

According to Edmonton police, officers rushed to the Southside location during the lunch hour Wednesday after reports of a man and woman fighting and bear spray was used.

The event took place just hours after police spoke on new data showing violent crime is up in the city. However, data from Statistics Canada shows – overall – that general crime is actually down in Edmonton.

“We’ve been able to buck the trend where other municipalities have not so far. So in the last two years, they’ve rebounded up to where they were prior to the pandemic,” explained Ron Anderson, an EPS chief innovation & technology officer.

Data from Statistics Canada shows general crime in Edmonton is down 11 per cent year-over-year, while violent crime is up 2 per cent.

Over that time police say the main areas that have gone up include fraud scams, assaults, and assault with a weapon. But Edmonton police claim the City still has lower crime numbers than other major markets across the nation.

“The violence is up generally across all cities. Ours is a smaller increase than many of them,” explained Anderson.

The data also shows between January and June of this year, crime is down by 14 per cent compared to last year.