Chilliwack's top cop Supt. Darren Pankratz cut to the chase while talking about Chilliwack's crime rate.
The new officer-in-charge was sharing the latest from Chilliwack RCMP's second-quarter crime report in council chambers Tuesday (Aug. 5).
Pankratz also addressed the elephant in the room: the 2024 crime rate data from Statistics Canada, which last month put Chilliwack at the top of the list with the highest crime rate, and crime-severity index, among census metropolitan areas in Canada.
"One thing I will acknowledge, obviously this past July, the crime severity index came out," Pankratz offered.
"It's something we've paid attention to, and that we're highly alive to."
The 2024 crime rate, based on Criminal Code incidents excluding traffic crimes, came in at 11,352 for Chilliwack, which is actually down by four per cent from 2023, compared to Kamloops' crime rate of 10,546, which was down 19 per cent year over year.
Chilliwack's Crime Severity Index (CSI) was 141.7, compared to second-worst Kamloops with a CSI of 129.9, and third, Winnipeg at 124.4.
Abbotsford-Mission's CSI is 95.
Despite the worst crime-rate status from last year, the more recent numbers show a downward trend especially in property crime, Pankratz said, and several RCMP initiatives will be rolling over into 2026 to bring them down further.
"We've taken significant steps to work on those crime trends thus far," Pankratz said. He said they've taken to the "proactive patrols" with RCMP and other agencies walking the streets of downtown, as well as Project SAFE and other initiatives.
"I'm optimistic that come this time next year, we'll be looking at a different number," the officer-in-charge said.
The 2023-25 yearly comparison of property crime, priority 1 calls, and crimes against the person that Pankratz pulled up a slide for, saw increases in both priority 1 calls from 750 to 897 incidents, and crimes against the person, which rose from 1217 to 1356.
But he was happy to note that property crime went down from 1544 incidents in 2023, dropping to 1315 in 2024, and 1252 to date in 2025.
In the year-to-date crime numbers, there was an increase in robbery, going from 14 in second quarter of 2024, compared to 24 robberies in second quarter of 2025. In terms of assault Q2 stats, there were 318 assaults in 2024, versus 326 in 2025.
"The challenge with robbery is that they're mainly unfounded or were a threat rather than a carry-out," Pankratz clarified.
Looking ahead, the report noted that province-wide deployment of body-worn cameras had been delayed until Spring 2026. Also mentioned was that the detachment will celebrate a 75th anniversary open house on Aug. 16.
Some of the strategic enforcement and crime-fighting initiatives included Chilliwack RCMP's:
鈥ackcountry Initiative
鈥usiness Watch
鈥chool Liaison Officers
鈥easonal Policing
鈥ids Don鈥檛 Float
鈥roject SAFE (Strategic Action for Focused Enforcement)