Scarborough has seen a shift from violent crimes towards theft and robberies in the early months of 2012.
Crime statistics for the beginning of 2012 showed a 17 to 23 per cent decline of violent crimes like murder, assault, and sexual assault compared to numbers from early 2011.
Murders decreased by one in five cases this year. There were also 237 fewer assaults reported.
However, the community experienced more possessions being stolen.
There were 396 robberies in 2012, up by 28 per cent from last year’s 309 instances.
Auto theft and thefts of items valued over $5,000 also slightly increased by three to seven per cent, respectively.
Bucking the trend, however, were break-ins, which decreased by 17 per cent to 402.