2009 crime stats

Waterloo Regional Police have released their annual report on local crime statistics.  

The 2009 Annual Report details all the crimes reported to police that year, and compares those stats to the 2008 numbers.

Murders, manslaughter and other fatal crimes held steady year over year.

While there were 57 more cases of Level 1 Sexual Assault compared to 2008, there were 65 fewer cases of other sexual crimes.

There were 14 per cent more Level 1 Assaults in 2009, totalling almost 1,900 cases.

Arson cases in 2009 were up a whopping 179 per cent to 279 cases.

Thefts from vehicles went up by 736 cases, to over 4,400 incidents.

Traffic offences in general were up 20 per cent, but drunk driving, boating -- and even drunk flying -- were substantially down, falling 11 percent to about 550 cases.

And police had to use force much less in 2009 all across the board, including a 15 per cent reduction in the number of times an officer had to drawn his or her firearm.