OTTAWA – Like most cities of its size, Ottawa has an active downtown core, filled with unique shops, bars and restaurants. And, like most cities, this also means the downtown becomes a hotspot for drunken brawls after the bars close, harsh words and drug activity. In Ottawa, the area around the Byward Market and east to Vanier is known to attract this kind of criminal behaviour. In fact, the Rideau-Vanier ward has the highest rate of crime in the city for a whole slew of offences, ranging from theft under $5000 to prostitution.

Despite high overall crime rates, Rideau-Vanier doesn’t take the top spot for the number of bail violations. In 2012, Somerset ward beat out Rideau-Vanier, racking up 751 bail violation charges. That translates to a per capita rate (per 10,000 people) of 195.6. This is lower than in 2011, when the per capita rate sat at 251.2. Still, this doesn’t paint a promising picture. The 2012 Somerset ward rate of bail violations tripled the rate in Rideau-Vanier ward, which sat at 64.4, with 309 actual violations. The statistics come from data analysis done by this reporter.

Bail violations in 2012 by ward

But with so many arrests in the downtown core, it hardly seems logical that the bail violations are concentrated elsewhere.

Don Wadel, the executive director of the John Howard Society of Ontario for reasonable responses to crime, was baffled by the statistic.

“It makes no sense at all,” he said. “That is completely a surprise.”

Though taken aback at first, Wadel said he thinks low-income housing and rooming houses in Somerset ward could be cause for the statistic. Many people who violate bail face challenges like drug or alcohol abuse and housing instability. Wadel said both Rideau-Vanier and Somerset wards are home to people with these issues, who, he said, are “the people who have the hardest time abiding by bail conditions.”

Somerset ward also includes a lot of parks, close to LCBOs or Beer Stores, which provides an inviting place for homeless or unstable people to sleep and feed addiction.

Ottawa crime statistics by ward and by offence 

While Wadel said he expected people who use shelters to violate bail more frequently because of unstable living conditions, Ottawa bail lawyer Michael Spratt said many homeless people may never get the chance to violate bail.

“I suspect that there are less people released who may be users of shelters,” he said. “Those people tend to have a less stable plan, less resources, less support, and it’s actually harder for them to be released.”

In other words, while there may be more crime in Rideau-Vanier, there may be fewer people being released, and, therefore, less opportunity for bail violations. He added that those who are released into Somerset ward may face bail conditions that are difficult to abide by given their housing circumstances.

For instance, someone living in a rooming house may live with another person with a criminal record. If a condition of his or her bail is to not associate with anyone with a criminal record, he or she may be violating bail simply by going home. Spratt said those who live in Somerset may be placed under stricter bail conditions, too, based on the reputation of the area as a hub of criminal activity. This, he said, invites more bail violations.

“A lot of the bail violations that we see are a direct result of conditions that are inappropriate,” said Spratt.

Inspector Chris Rheaume of the Ottawa Police Service, who is responsible for Somerset-area crime monitoring, was unable to be reached for comment after several attempts to contact him.

Ottawa Police Service media spokesperson Constable Chuck Benoit hesitated to comment, but said that Somerset ward may simply be “more towards where [those who violate bail] are hanging out.”

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By Erika Stark

If you live in Alta Vista or Beacon Hill-Cyrville, you might want to double check the locks on your car doors.

The two east-end Ottawa wards had the highest per capita rate of vehicle thefts in the last two years, according to crime data released by the Ottawa Police Service.

One hundred thirty-one cars, or about 28 per capita (10,000 people) were stolen in Alta Vista last year, up from 111, or 26 per capita in 2011.

In Beacon Hill-Cyrville, thieves stole 96 cars in 2012 and 84 the year before.

Across Ottawa, 1,253 cars went missing last year. In 2011, 1,122 vehicles were stolen.

“It’s a crime of opportunity,” said Erin Kelly, a communications specialist for the Canadian Automobile Association. “One thing people always need to remember is not to entice thieves and keep valuables and parcels from view.”

“These are people who are looking for a quick opportunity and it can escalate from people who are breaking in for that valuable.”

Kelly said it’s not surprising that the two wards with the highest per capita rates of vehicle theft are both partly residential.

“A lot of people remember about parking lots and what to do, parking in a well-lit area and taking your keys with you,” she said. “But if you’re at home, there’s still a great risk, especially if you live in a residential area that doesn’t have a lot of pedestrian traffic.”

Kelly said using a locked garage is the best way to prevent car thefts at home. Parking facing the street can reduce the shadows thieves use to conceal themselves, she added.

“People feel safe at home. But at nighttime, there’s a lot of dark areas and if you’re not thinking about that, your car’s just as easy a target in your driveway as it could be in a downtown parking lot.”

The Ottawa Police Service’s crime prevention sheet for vehicle owners recommends many of the same precautions Kelly offered. It also states vehicle owners should never leave their keys – even spare keys – inside their vehicles. No one from the police service was made available for comment on this story.

Elsewhere in Ottawa, thirteen wards saw year-over-year increases in thefts, including West Carleton-March, where the per capita rate nearly doubled from 2011 to 2012. Conversely, Cumberland saw its own rate almost halved, dropping from 16 per capita in 2011 to nine last year.

Last April, police charged seven people in relation to the theft of over 100 cars between May and October 2012. The organized crime ring sold the vehicles, mostly minivans, to metal recycling facilities.

The solvency rate for car thefts in 2012 was just 17 per cent according to Ottawa Police Service’s crime, police and traffic statistics report. Of the 1,253 stolen vehicles, roughly 213 were recovered.

Back in Alta Vista, community association president Tony Bernard says the high rate of vehicle thefts isn’t a widespread community concern.

“Not in the time that I’ve been there, nobody’s ever brought it up,” he said. “It certainly hasn’t come up to the organization as something that we need to take action on.”

“Crime’s always an issue, I guess,” Bernard added. “But I certainly feel that the community is safe.”

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