Residents of Thunder Bay are 5 times more likely to get kidnapped or held against their will than residents of the Canadian ‘violent crime capital’, Winnipeg.

The northern Ontario city’s kidnapping and forcible confinement rate was 26 per 100,000 people last year. That is the highest rate per capita of major cities in Canada according to an analysis of Statistics Canada data. Winnipeg ranks 25^th on that same list.

Local resident Linda Douglas works for the Thunder Bay Crime Prevention Council of Thunder Bay. She admits being surprised at the number of kidnappings last year but doesn’t think it’s a huge problem for the city.

“It’s not something you hear about in the 6 o’clock news.” she says.

That is because Thunder Bay’s high kidnapping rate may be a symptom of another underlying violent crime. Most of the kidnapping charges were laid in connection with domestic violence incidents, according to Thunder Bay police.

“We don’t really see any ‘kidnappings’ where someone has been abducted and held,” says Thunder Bay Police spokesperson Chris Adams in an email.

University of Manitoba criminology professor Frank Cormier says the way the Thunder Bay police handles domestic violence echoes a wider trend in the country.

“There’s often another violent crime that’s attached to [the kidnapping/forcible confinement charges],” he says. “Kidnapping acts with a demand for ransom are very rare.”

There is no domestic violence offence under the Criminal Code of Canada. Instead, people arrested in domestic violence incidents are usually charged with uttering threats and assault, among others.

“Kidnappings and forcible confinements are add-on charges,” says Cormier. “Sometimes, the police is going to charge an offender as much as they can. Those charges are typically dropped in exchange for a guilty plea [for the main charge] at the courthouse.”

Domestic violence used to be disregarded by police but all changed in the late 70s, he says. A zero-tolerance policy was brought in so that charges had to be laid by officers responding to a domestic violence call. As a result, the amounts of kidnapping and forcible confinement charges have skyrocketed, says Cormier.

In Thunder Bay, the rate of kidnapping and forcible confinements has been steadily increasing since the late ‘90s, peaking in 2010 with 32 kidnappings per 100,000 people.

In 2013, the police launched a domestic violence unit exclusively tasked with dealing with those situations. That same year, the police reported 278 victims of family violence despite laying only 15 kidnappings and forcible confinement charges.

“We also have one of the highest rates of domestic violence incidents in the province and I would think the country,” says Adams. “Typically, domestic violence issues are very emotionally charged incidents and can be very dangerous for the victims.”

But according to Frank Cormier, that doesn’t justify creating a separate charge for domestic violence.

“At what point does it become a domestic relationship?” he asks. “When the guy goes on a date with the girl and later keeps her from leaving the house? Or do they have to be married?”

The Criminal Code needs less adjectives and descriptions to be effective, he says, because personal ties will typically be considered by the judge during sentencing. Instead, the solution may lie in changing societal attitudes.

“College students used to drink and drive for fun and now it’s viewed as a ‘bad’ thing,” he says. “It’s the same for domestic violence. Today, people don’t make jokes about slapping their wives.”

Answering the phone may never been the same for Ethel Jones again.

The call came in the middle of a quiet Tuesday afternoon, early in the summer of 2014. Mrs. Jones was greeted by a fast-speaking man. He said he was a representative from her bank, warning her about issues with some statements, and asking for information so that he could fix it. She brought over her husband Robert Jones, and together they calmly told the man their account number, their passwords, everything.

Mrs. Jones was 85, and in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.

The man on the phone was a criminal.

“They thought, ‘Of Course!’ They trusted the man, they’re not used to technology and believed he was just trying to help,” said Kristie Jones, Mrs. Jones’ granddaughter, who told me this story due to her grandmother’s now severe stage of memory loss.

Five minutes after being scammed, Susan Coichrnoyer, Mrs. Jones’ daughter, called in to do a random check-in and got the details of the “very helpful man from the bank.”

There were zero dollars in their account. If Coichrnoyer had not contacted the bank immediately, and stopped the transfer mid transaction, “all of their money, their pension, everything would’ve been gone,” said Jones. “All in the span of 15 minutes.”

Identity fraud is not something new. But it is scams like these that are causing the national average to increase steadily over the past 3 years.

In fact, if you’re a resident of Toronto, your chances of being scammed have nearly doubled, going from a rate of 15.9 to 28.5 incidents per 100,000 people in just one year, according to an analysis of Statistics Canada data. It’s the city with the third highest identity fraud rate in all of Ontario.

Unfortunately, Canada’s seniors are easy prey for the scammers, said Daniel Williams, Fraud Specialist from the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre (CAFC).

“Some types of fraud, like prize scams, historically its been 80 per cent of victims have been 60 plus,” said Williams. According to CAFC’s 2014 annual report, telephone/facsimile scams are the most probable ways criminals will try to steal information, with just over 22 thousand complaints and 4,557 victims this past year.

Williams says the only way to combat identity fraud and to see the national rate go down is to report.

“Let’s say we get the names (from law enforcement) of anywhere form 100 to 300 Canadians who have sent money directly to scammers with a suspect bank account. We go through our database and we’re lucky to see if its six, maybe seven people have reported. And these people are losing tens of thousands of dollars,” he said.

Williams says there are a multitude of reasons why people don’t report, but the very worst is the people who don’t realize they’ve been scammed.

“Prize scams geared towards victims in their late 60s, 70s, 80s, people who may be in various stages of memory loss, so the awareness to report isn’t there the way that it would be,” said Williams.

But there’s also the stigma of reporting. “Many people who realize that they’ve been scammed feel very embarrassed about it, they blame themselves,” he added.

Robert Jones, now 88, is an ex-military member. “He’s always been very sharp, always on point,” said Jones. “He was shocked. He was so disappointed in himself, he couldn’t believe he was so easily fooled,” she said.

Although, seniors aren’t the only ones that should be concerned.

“How many people put information on Facebook that ten years ago would have been considered personal and private … Now less and less is date of birth considered something of an identifier because its just so readily available,” said Williams.

According to CAFC’s 2014 report, 66% of the year’s total reported dollar loss was stolen via the Internet or email. “The Internet is the cheapest way for criminals to get a hold of people, and they love it,” said Williams.

From Kijiji ads selling couches to seniors on dating websites looking for new romance, “All of these things these people are doing online, the scammers are there circling like vultures. And there are many, many vultures,” said Williams.

“Google it!” he added. ““Scammers are evil, they’re nasty, they’re very successful, but they’re also very lazy. You receive an email telling you you’re getting an inheritance? Search the claim number. I guarantee once five people have been exposed to it, one of them has blogged about it.”

Sex crimes like rape and unwanted kissing increased nearly 24 per cent between 2010 and 2014, making Ottawa’s rate of sexual assault the fastest growing in Canada.

According to an analysis of Statistics Canada data, there has been a 23.7 per cent increase in the rate of level one sexual assault, Canada’s most common form of sexual violence. With the increased demand, victim services are feeling the pinch.

Yami Msosa is the public outreach coordinator for the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Ottawa (SASC), which runs a variety of support and counselling programs for survivors of sexual violence. She says the centre has been unable to meet the city’s burgeoning demand for its services.

“Its’ hard even just getting access to our services,” she says. “And it’s not because we don’t have people that are available to do the work and that are willing to do the work, it’s just the numbers. There’s a lot of folks that need support. And sometimes what we can offer is not enough.”

A similar narrative emerges at the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre (ORCC). “We do have pressure,” says Tara Henderson, the centre’s public education and fundraising program coordinator. “Fundraising is more important for us than ever before, to be able to meet the demands and be able to be responsive, especially with more marginalized groups.”

An increase in reporting

Staff Sergeant Angela McDade of the Ottawa Police Service’s Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Unit says her team has seen a relatively steady rate of sexual assault in the city. However, she adds that the Statistics Canada data encompasses reports from the Ottawa Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police and RCMP, which may explain the discrepancy. Looking at the numbers, she says the situation in Ottawa may not be as grim as the data portrays it to be.

“It could possibly be that complainants or victims are more willing to come forward,” she says.

It’s a theory that’s gaining ground at Ottawa’s victim support centres. According to Henderson, stories like the Jian Ghomeshi affair last fall have led to a sudden spike in demand for the ORCC’s services.

“There’s been a lot of high-profile stories of women coming forward and being believed,” she says. “We increased our counselling by 46 per cent over the past year to try and respond to the demand.” Henderson says social media initiatives, such as the provincial government’s “Who Will You Help” Twitter campaign, have also encouraged survivors to seek counselling.

Statistics skewed

Even with the increased media attention, Henderson says the stigma surrounding sexual assault prevents many survivors from coming forward to police. Certain groups like aboriginal and disabled women, racial minorities and homeless individuals are less likely to report sexual violence, even though they often experience higher rates.

“The people who are most at risk for sexual assault are people who can be hard to track in statistics,” she says. As a result, Ottawa’s sexual violence support centres often see many more survivors coming through their doors than the police.

“The numbers that we see are always going to be inherently different,” says Msosa. “80 to 90 per cent of survivors do not report. And so you have a huge portion of survivors not reporting, but coming to us.”

On Sept. 17, the provincial government announced a $1.75 million increase to the base funding for Ontario’s 42 sexual assault support centres, including the ORCC and SASC. But although Msosa agrees the increased funding is a step in the right direction, she says it won’t be enough to meet the demand for services.

“We have over 50 people at our organization doing this work, and it’s not enough,” she says. “We have two sexual assault centres in Ottawa, and it’s still not enough.

“Sexual assault, it’s, yeah. Quite rampant.”

Kitchener-Waterloo in south-western Ontario may be home to technology firms like Blackberry Ltd., but it’s also become the centre for a particular brand of cyber crime: identity theft. Statistics Canada data indicates identity theft rates per 100,000 residents jumped between the years 2010-2013, with 2014 being the highest so far.

The Criminal Code defines identity theft “as obtaining and possessing identity information with the intent to use the information deceptively, dishonestly or fraudulently in the commission of a crime.” This could range from impersonating someone to open a bank account to using stolen credentials to purchase goods.

We leave a digital trail everywhere we go. From Facebook logins to the banking apps on our smart phones, criminals are always looking for a weak link in the security chain. Stories of hacking scandals, privacy breaches, and technology firms releasing security patches for their devices have become all too commonplace.

Margaret Gloade, a spokesperson for the Waterloo Regional Police Service, says a major investigation by the fraud division last year is the reason why the rate for 2014 seems higher than previous years. “It resulted in an arrest,” she says. “It’s also indicative of the large number of victims involved.”

Gloade says anytime a police service decides to dedicate more resources to a particular issue, it can result in an uptick in the statistics. “It’s reflective of police priorities sometimes,” she says. “The community’s willingness to report these crimes can also influence the numbers.”

Other identity theft trends in the Kitchener-Waterloo region also have police looking at the payday loan sector. “Our fraud investigators are also finding people are using compromised IDs to get online loans from companies like money-lending businesses,” she says. “It’s still quite easy to do this.”

But how do criminals get a hold of people’s identities? What’s the source?

Professor Tim Richardson of the University of Toronto says it’s sometimes simple carelessness. “Sometimes business will donate computers to a charity or similar organization, and they forget to properly wipe the hard drives,” he says. Those thousands of records can then be easily retrieved and sold to other criminals on the Internet. “They’ll go into chat rooms and trade the data,” he says.

Another way fraudsters steal people’s data is through retail stores. Compromised employees with access to customer data might try to sell the information on the Internet.

However, Richardson says it’s usually a time-consuming process so the criminals will work in groups of three or four. “A lot of the time it’s a borderless crime – it’s hard to determine where these guys are operating.”

While it may appear the Kitchener-Waterloo region is number one in Ontario for identity theft, further analysis of the national data shows Ontario is actually in the middle of the pack when it comes to these crimes. From 2010-2014, the province placed about eighth in Canada, with Quebec and Alberta placing first and second respectively. The province with the lowest rate was Newfoundland and Labrador.

Still, the problem of identity theft is big enough to warrant having it’s own government clearing-house. Daniel Williams of the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says identity theft “is usually beyond the everyday consumer’s control.”

“It’s the biggest type of fraud Canadians face,” he says. “Millions [of dollars] are lost every year.”

Williams says there is a lot Canadians can do to minimize the fallout should they become a victim. “Why make it easy for a criminal to go through your garbage?” he says. “ Shred important documents.” Williams also says it’s important to monitor the activity on credit and bank statements. You should also check your credit rating with Equifax and TransUnion – the two main credit agencies in Canada – at least once year. Any unusual activity should be reported immediately. “Should it happen, it’s important to get ahead of it as soon as possible,” he says. “Don’t put it off – deal with it right away.”

Williams adds consumers are not in charge of how institutions guard their systems. Nothing is ever 100 per cent secure. “Hackers have even gotten into the Pentagon,” referring to the incident this past summer when a group of alleged Russian hackers stole almost 4,000 documents from military computers.

The bottom line is that it’s important to remain vigilant about your personal data. “It’s easier for criminals to copy identities rather than create them,” he says. “It’s important to keep on top of these things everyday.”

 Edmonton Police Detective Bill Allen said Alberta has been “a target area” for fraudsters because of its traditionally healthy economy. (Photo: Edmonton Metro News)

In 2014, people had their identities stolen in Edmonton at a higher rate than any other major Canadian city.

An analysis of Statistics Canada crime data revealed that Alberta’s capital city had 14.2 reports of identity theft per 100,000 people last year — far above Ottawa’s rate of 1.0 despite having a similar population.

Edmonton’s rate has also been rising steadily over the past four years. Back in 2010, the city only had a rate of 1.4 per 100,000.

According to Detective Bill Allen from the Edmonton Police Service, Alberta has been “a target area” for fraudsters because of its traditionally healthy economy.

“It’s ripe for that type of a scenario because you have a lot of people moving from other parts of Canada to Alberta because the job market was much more vibrant here,” he said.

Identity theft refers to stealing someone’s personal information — like a birth date or social insurance number — for criminal purposes. Offenders use many techniques to steal ID, ranging from phishing and hacking online, to mail theft on the ground.

The motivation is money, said RCMP Corporal Josée Rousseau, who works at the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, a government support service for victims of identity theft and fraud. Once stolen identification is used to open a new bank account, for example, then the case becomes one of identity fraud as well as theft.

The centre’s 2014 Annual Statistical Report states 20,611 Canadians fell prey to identity fraud last year and collectively lost nearly $10.5 million.

Allen said an organized network is behind most of these incidents. While stolen money is sometimes used to support habits like drugs or gambling, he said it often ends up in the United States or overseas.

These crimes leave victims in a huge mess, said Rousseau.

“The feeling is a violation, it’s a fear, it’s a big stress. It’s hard to get out of it. There’s a lot of work to be done to be able to get your name back on track.”

Rousseau said the Anti-Fraud Centre gives victims the information they need to regain control of their finances. They recommend reporting the crime to local police and contacting a credit reporting agency like Equifax or TransUnion.

But sometimes a call from a credit agency is a warning sign that identity theft has occurred.

In many cases a victim finds out after being notified about credit checks they didn’t authorize, said Joseph Webb, who works in the credit card industry and sells a product that alerts customers to signs of identity theft.

Webb was not authorized to speak on behalf of his company but instead offered his personal views.

Webb said if someone don’t monitor their credit history regularly, it could take years before they realize their identity has been stolen.

According to Allen, the majority of victims will never find out how their personal information was obtained, but sometimes the answers come to light.

About two years ago, Allen solved a case in which an Edmonton car dealership employee stole loan documents left behind by clients who didn’t follow through with a purchase. The employee then sold the documents to “a guy on the street” who used the personal information they contained to manufacture fake IDs and commit fraud.

Although Allen believes the dealership didn’t protect those documents properly, he said people should keep track of who they’re giving their personal information to and retrieve any important records once they’re no longer needed.

Webb said there isn’t a lot of demand for the prevention service he sells, which tells him people don’t think seriously about identity theft and the consequences.

“It is something I think people need to be educated more about,” he said. “People think bad things won’t happen to them and so they don’t need to prevent it.”

“Identity theft can take years to fix and it can actually have real-world effects.”

When toxicologist Dr. Sophie Gosselin walks into work to see her patients struggling with crystal meth addiction, there’s one thing she can’t help but notice—there’s more of them.

“I’ve noticed it. My colleague lost 15 patients to crystal meth in the last three years. He’s noticed it. But no one seems to be talking about it,” said Gosselin.

An analysis of crime data from Statistics Canada indicated that people were 12 times more likely to be arrested for crystal methamphetamine possession in Quebec in 2014 compared to 2008.

The toxicologist– who is also a doctor in the emergency department at the McGill University Health Centre– says she is not surprised to hear meth possession arrests have gone up in the province of Quebec.

Gosselin described the drug as highly addictive and dangerous.

A Canada-wide issue.

It’s not just Quebec; rates of crystal meth possession also increased nationally.

While Statistics Canada confirmed crystal meth possession arrests to be higher than ever recorded, RCMP officials could not give an answer why the numbers had increased.

“It is challenging to attribute specific factors related to the increase of crystal meth possession, since there are varying policies, practices and resources available across different police services and over time,” said RCMP spokesperson Annie DeLisle in an email response.

Ottawa lawyer and criminologist Eugène Oscapella has a few theories about why the upward trend occurred. Low production costs and availability of materials make the drug attractive to dealers.

“Drugs are like any other product. It’s about capitalism. People are selling what they can make the most money off of,” said Oscapella.

“Methamphetamine at the street level is inexpensive compared to certain other synthetic drugs available on the illegal market,” said DeLisle

Another reason for the increase, Oscapella explained, is the copycat effect. He said one reason for the trend could be related to AMC’s hit series Breaking Bad, which came out in 2008.

“If Madonna wears a corset, or does her hair a certain way, well then other people will want to follow that trend,” he said.

“It’s the same for drugs. It becomes a popular and ‘in’ drug.”

Still, neither Oscapella nor the RCMP would make a direct link between the show and the increase in crystal methamphetamine arrests. The RCMP said most production is still run by organized crime groups.

Health and the bigger picture.

Gosselin said part of the problem was that the people who were arrested- usually dealers-weren’t the ones suffering.

“The people we are seeing are people who have a socioeconomic background and who just want to come out of their shell. Maybe just for a weekend,” said Gosselin.

Gosselin said she had seen the trend hit the LGBT community, especially amongst youth between the ages of 19 to 24.

Oscapella said truck drivers, people working in the tar sands and military personnel embarking on a long mission would take crystal meth to stay awake.

“When they do come to see me they’re already at the end of the corner,”  said Gosselin.

What worries her most is that there is not enough being done for patients struggling with addiction, particularly on the mental health side of things.

“Three waiting lists to get somewhere?” said Gosselin, with a chuckle. She explained how it took six full weeks for a patient she had already diagnosed, to finally book a session with a psychiatrist.

“That’s just inefficient,” she said.

Oscapella said he believed the most dangerous part about crystal meth to be the lack of regulation for dosage, production and use standards.

“No matter what we do, people who want to take drugs are going to take drugs,” he said.

“What matters is how we deal with it.”

Sexual assault charges in the nation’s capital have increased by 30 per cent in the last five years. An analysis of Statistics Canada crime data shows that Ottawa had also the largest increase in the province – but that doesn’t mean there are more sexual assaults in the city, just that police are laying more charges.

This is a trend that support workers like Tara Henderson understand all too well. She wasn’t surprised — or concerned — by the change.

“Women are pushing other women and encouraging them to seek justice,” said Henderson, a public educator from the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre.

Henderson credits public education campaigns and social media for fuelling conversations about sexual assault. She said demand for services at the crisis centre shot up this past year and triple the number of people are receiving public education.

Erin Leigh from the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women said the sexual assault allegations against former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi changed how people think about the crime.

“Because of the type of work he did, there was a level of trust. People felt betrayed,” said Leigh about the Ghomeshi scandal. “It really personalized sexual assault and challenged the myth about stranger danger… It can happen to people (who) you know, it’s not always the creepy dude in the bushes.”

Leigh also said Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s $41-million action plan to curb sexual assault has also pushed violence against women into the public eye with their #WhoWillYouHelp campaign.

“Today, if you walk into a public bathroom stall, you will see a poster for a public education campaign,” said Yami Msosa, a support worker at the Sexual Assault Centre of Ottawa.

For Msosa, hearing there’s been a bump in charges in the city wasn’t bad news.

“It’s phenomenal,” she said.“But even though there’s been an increase, there is still a large percentage of individuals who are not reporting it.”

And that is the biggest challenge when it comes to collecting reliable data about sexual violence: the disclosure rate.

“The disclosure rate is so low, it’s hard to get a true sense of who is being impacted,” said Henderson.

A 2013 study by University of Ottawa criminology professor Holly Johnson found that of every 1000 sexual assaults in Canada, only 33 are reported to police, 12 have charges laid, and only three lead to conviction.

“When women hear those statistics, considering the amount of time it takes to go through the justice system, reconnect with a tragic experience, sometimes with no legal representation… It can be daunting to think of oneself going through it,” said Henderson.

Ottawa Police Staff Sgt. Angela McDade from the Sexual Assault Unit said it’s common for women to report a crime and not want to lay a charge.

“Many times they are willing to tell us their story, but at the end of the day some women just want that person warned,” said Sgt. McDade.

Sgt. McDade said the Ottawa Police haven’t seen a significant change in the number of sexual assault charges. Yet, from 2013 to 2014 they received 13 per cent more reports of the crime. She said the Ottawa Police are also educating officers to not write off a sexual assault report as unfounded until they can absolutely confirm it didn’t happen.

Still, sexual assault clearance rates remain high because the crime usually happens behind closed doors and there is often not enough evidence to support a charge — something McDade said shouldn’t discourage women to come forward.

“Although reporting won’t change what happened to them, it may hold an offender accountable and empower the survivor to regain control in their life.”

Waterloo Regional Police Service has stepped up its battle against identity fraud leading to an increase in arrests from 2012 to 2014.

Rates of identity fraud have been on the rise since 2012 in Waterloo Region. There were 73 reported incidents per 100,000 people in the city in 2014, up from 52 in 2012. That’s compared to a rate of just 26 per 100,000 in 2014 provincially, according to Statistics Canada.

This was in part due to major arrests in an identity fraud investigation, says Margaret Gloade, a research analyst planner with the WRPS.

“There have been some pretty major investigations going on which have caused those numbers to increase,” said Gloade.

Residents of the area are feeling the fear in their regular lives says Melissa Nagel, a Cambridge local.

“It happens everywhere in this area,” said Nagel. “It actually is pretty bad, I won’t even use my debit card in this area because I’m scared of identity fraud.”

Nagel has been a victim of identity fraud twice before.

“The first time I was out shopping at the Gap and my card got declined and I went ‘pardon me,’ and I called the bank. But the second time, they called me,” said Nagel.

However, there were no answers for her after she had her credit cards cancelled.

“I really had no idea where they could have gotten my information, which is the scary part.”

Although the numbers for 2015 have not been released yet the region is seeing a lot of similarities from 2014, says Detective Constable John Costa, who is with the investigation services fraud unit for WRPS.

“We had a couple of major investigations both last year and this year into fraud cases that uncovered an extremely significant number of victims who had their identities compromised,” said Costa.

Costa also noted the increase in the rate of identity fraud is due to an increase in online activity.

“The other thing we’ve noticed with respect to organized crime is that various organized crime groups are turning more towards the Internet to commit an array of frauds,” said Costa.

Alison Haddaway, also a Cambridge resident, had her and her husband’s identities stolen to buy cellphones on two different occasions. She expressed anger that people could do this and create problems for her in the future without getting caught.

“You never think it’s going to happen to you and you kind of get mad that how can a person just walk in and take your identity,” said Haddaway.

Statistics Canada data is based on reported incidents, and therefore unreported incidents are exempt from analysis. The reason the rates are so much higher in Waterloo Region as opposed to the rest of the province might be because of good police work, notes Gloade.

“It also may mean that our community has confidence in our service and we as a service have decided to put priorities for this area, which drives up the number as well,” said Gloade.

Haddaway said rather than confidence it should be creating more consciousness for residents.

“I think it should heighten our awareness, we’ve got to know what’s going on in our own city,” said Haddaway.

Ottawa café owner Mel Hein was devastated when her distinct green bike was stolen from outside her restaurant in September of 2014.

“The bike was a gift from my husband, so it held a lot of sentimental value,” she said.

According to an analysis of Statistics Canada crime data from 2010 to 2014, the rate of total small time theft in Ottawa was nearly 13 per cent greater than rates in Ontario, suggesting that Ottawa is a trouble spot for petty theft.

Small time theft consists of all theft under $5,000, including theft from a motor vehicle and theft obtained through shoplifting.

According to University of Ottawa criminology professor Ronald Melcher, the most troubling part about petty theft is that more than 80 per cent of cases go unsolved. Melcher said that small time theft has some of the lowest conviction rates of all crime categories.

Vanier Community Police Centre Const. Jacques Carriere said that in Ottawa, the most common items thieves target are bikes and cell phones.

He said that the sharp increase of electronic theft, in particular, in Ottawa in recent years prompted police to issue an Internet public service campaign to educate residents on how to avoid becoming a victim of this type of crime.

The police’s main message? Be aware of your surroundings and be mindful of displaying electronic devices. If a theft does occur, police say it’s better not to resist attackers, as this could lead to serious injury.

This kind of advice could have served Westboro resident, Dylan Hanley, well. In 2012, a year that saw small time theft rates in Ottawa outweigh theft rates in Ontario by more than 20 per cent, Hanley’s cell phone was stolen by an unidentified male brandishing a bottle in the Byward Market.

“I hit him, we struggled, and he eventually threw me into the road, at which point I dropped my phone and he took off with it,” said Hanley.

Irvin Waller, a criminology professor at the University of Ottawa, said cases like Hanley and Hein’s don’t surprise him.

“Ottawa is an affluent city with easily transportable and saleable goods such as bikes and cell phones,” said Waller. “These items are very attractive to thieves looking to make a quick buck.”

Waller also said that one of the key reasons theft rates are so high in Ottawa compared to the rest of the province is that Canada’s capital city has not invested in proven strategies that reduce theft or more serious common crimes. Waller said these strategies involve diagnosing the problem and investing in preventative solutions in schools and communities.

However, while the data suggests that Ottawa is a problem area for petty theft, University of Ottawa criminology professor Ronald Melcher is sceptical that the numbers illustrate anything significant other than variations among jurisdictions in local reporting and police recording.

Melcher said that Statistics Canada uses police reported crime rates, data he claims is notoriously unreliable, as it is subject to the proportion of victims who report their victimization as well as police decisions to record what is reported to them. Melcher said that in Ottawa, a relatively safe city, police might have more time to record petty thefts than in other jurisdictions that are more preoccupied with major crime.

Whatever the explanation for the high levels of reported theft, it is clear from individual cases like Hein and Hanley that no one is immune to this type of crime.

Unlike Hanley, whose phone was never recovered, Hein considers herself lucky that just two months after her bike first went missing, it was recovered by police in an apartment building nearby.

“Some of the parts were gone, but police were able to identify it because of its distinct green colour,” said Hein.

Hein hopes to have her bike up and running again by the summer.

This is a test from Keith Hickey.