People in former murder capital feel safe: Study
Posted February 27, 2013 11:25 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
ABBOTSFORD (NEWS1130) – Despite its old title of being the murder capital of Canada, a new study shows people living in Abbotsford have a strong sense of security.
University of the Fraser Valley Criminologist Darryl Plecas conducted the study for Abbotsford Police.
The survey was sent out to a little over 2,000 people but in the end roughly 500 people responded. Out of those respondents, 97 per cent say they feel safe in their own home.
“And the other thing, that’s significant about that is that level of safety is even slightly higher for people from various ethnic groups,” he says.
Plecas says that’s better than other areas in Metro Vancouver. “At least on the surveys we’ve done before in other jurisdictions, and that’s about a dozen of them in the last few years, there’ve never been a case where we found a greater feeling of safety.”
He says people feel pretty good about their neighbourhood and community, however, there’s still room for improvement. About one-quarter of respondents are still worried about drugs and gang activity.
Plecas credits the hard work by the Abbotsford Police. The last time a study like this was done was back in 2010.
