The year-end reports for the Regina Police Services’ three districts were released, showing that the city’s central part carries a heavy load of Regina’s crime.

According to the report, the Central District, which consists of the North Central Community, the Heritage Community, and the Downtown Core, accounted for 37.14 per cent of all occurrences in the city while just accounting for 10.99 per cent of Regina’s population.

Regina Police Chief Evan Bray said many issues the city sees are spotlighted in the district.

“We see a lot of challenges that happen in the Central District; I think we see a magnification of some of the social issues that our city faces in the Central District, and we know there is a direct correlation between social issues like mental health, addictions, and police calls for service,” he said. “Knowing that it’s concentrated in the centre part of the city and the Central District really equates as to why we experience so much in that area.”

Central District

Sticking with the Central District, it accounted for 23.8 per cent of all reported property crimes and 35.1 per cent of all crimes against a person.

Break and enters, theft of auto, mischief, assaults, and robberies decreased in the district, with theft from auto increasing slightly.

Compared to previous years, total property violations in the Central District decreased by three per cent and a 30 per cent reduction in total property violations in the Central District since 2019, with crimes against property down 17.64 per cent compared to 2021.

North District

The North District includes the area within the City limits north of the Canadian Pacific main railway line, except for the North Central Community. The area also consists of the Paul Dojack Youth Centre.

The district saw a decrease in theft of autos (-8.6%), mischief (-6.9%), assaults (-6.6%), and robberies (-3.5), with break and enters (+9.9%) and theft from autos (+8.6%) seeing increases.

Overall that led to a property crime decrease of less than half a per cent and a decrease of 6.3 per cent in crimes against a person.

South District

The South District is south of the railroad tracks, excluding the Downtown and Heritage neighbourhoods. The geographical area continues to grow in the south with the Harbour Landing development and southeast with the Creeks, Creekside and the Greens on Gardiner developments.

The district saw increases in the break and enters, theft from auto and mischief offences, with just theft of autos seeing a decrease. Those listed marked a 9.45 per cent increase in crimes against property.

Crimes against a person saw significant decreases in assaults and robberies, leading to a total reduction of 6.45 per cent.

Overall, the three districts saw a 1.04 increase in occurrences compared to 2021.