Selected police-reported crime and calls for service during the COVID-19 pandemic, March 2020 to August 2021

The Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics is conducting a special survey collection from a sample of police services across Canada to measure the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on selected types of crimes and calls for service. Data will continue to be collected monthly until December 2021 and will continue to be reported regularly.

This is the ninth release of this special data collection by Statistics Canada. Previously published data may have been revised.

For this reference period, 19 police services provided data on a voluntary basis. These police services are the Calgary Police Service, Edmonton Police Service, Halton Regional Police Service, Kennebecasis Regional Police Force, London Police Service, Montréal Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police, Ottawa Police Service, Regina Police Service, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, Saskatoon Police Service, Sûreté du Québec, Toronto Police Service, Vancouver Police Department, Victoria Police Department, Waterloo Regional Police Service, Winnipeg Police Service, and York Regional Police.

Police services that responded to this survey serve more than two-thirds (71%) of the Canadian population. The Edmonton Police Service, Montréal Police Service, RCMP, Sûreté du Québec and Winnipeg Police Service were unable to provide data on calls for service. As a result, the police services that did provide these data serve nearly one-third (32%) of the Canadian population.

Selected crime types were the following: assaults; sexual assaults; assaults against a peace or public officer; uttering threats; robbery; dangerous operation causing death or bodily harm; impaired driving or impaired driving causing death or bodily harm; breaking and entering; motor vehicle theft; shoplifting; fraud, identity theft or identity fraud; and failure to comply with an order.

Calls for service are defined as calls received by police services that are citizen-generated or officer-initiated and that required police resources to be tasked (such as a call to a 9-1-1 emergency line that resulted in the dispatch of an officer).