About half of Canadians polled say crime is rising in their communities. Pollster Angus Reid attributes this to waning confidence in police and courts. Reid says crime rates in Canada dropped from 1991 until 2014, falling more than 50 per cent during that period. Since then, though, crime rates have ticked upward in each of the past four years for which data is available. Western Canadians are even more inclined to hold the view that crime has increased in their communities. In Saskatchewan, for example, 69 per cent of those polled say crime is up over the past five years. The polling firm says it’s notable that Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg all rank in the top five cities with the highest crime rates in the nation.
Additionally, 57 per cent of people in Saskatchewan have confidence in the RCMP and 61 per cent in the local municipal police. Burt when it comes to the courts, only 30 per cent have confidence in the criminal courts here and only 39 per cent in the Supreme Court.