2023 saw an increase in violent crimes in the Comox Valley.
That comes from Comox Valley RCMP in a quarterly report between October 1 and December 31.
In the report, they say that violent crime files went from 894 in 2022 to 963 in 2023, an eight percent increase.
While 475 of those files were assault, an 18 percent increase, extortion saw the biggest percent change from 2022 at 136 percent. Intimidation had the lowest number of files, with only one last year.
For where most of the crimes took place, police say that Courtenay East and downtown saw the most with 221 and 193 respectively.
While violent crimes have gone up, property crimes have gone down by nine percent, Controlled Drugs and Substances Act also went down by 50 percent, and traffic offences went down by 17 percent.
