New crime data from the Vancouver Police Department that covers the first three months of 2025 shows the city experienced its lowest number of violent crimes since 2002.
Violent crime decreased by 11.2 per cent between January and March, with offences dropping from 1,342 to 1,192—the lowest number of violent crimes on record since the implementation of the Police Records Information Management Environment system in 2002.
“This decrease is driven by record low quarterly assaults and robberies,” said a police report that goes before the Vancouver Police Board Thursday.
Violent crime decreased in 15 of the 24 Vancouver neighbourhoods and across all patrol districts except for district four, which covers the southwest quadrant of the city from roughly Fraser Street west.
That district saw an increase in assaults and sexual assaults in the neighbourhoods of Oakridge, Kitsilano and Mount Pleasant. But overall, assaults decreased 12.6 per cent from 1,028 in the first three months of 2024 to 898 between January and March of 2025.
Task Force Barrage
Robberies decreased by 23.2 per cent, dropping from 142 incidents in the first three months of 2024 to 109 for the same period this year. The decrease was driven by a 39.5 per cent reduction specifically in the Downtown Eastside, where police continue to run Task Force Barrage.
At the same time, sexual offences across the city increased by 7.1 per cent, rising from 168 incidents in the first quarter of 2024 to 180 between January and March 2025. This includes a 6.5 per cent increase in historical reports of sexual offences, the report said.
Vancouver police also saw assaults on officers increase 28 per cent from 25 to 32 for the comparable three-month periods in 2024 and 2025. Two homicides occurred in the first three months of this year compared to one in the first three months of 2024.
Meanwhile, property crime decreased by four per cent this year when compared with the first three months of 2024, with cases falling from 7,294 to 7,000. Policing district two, however, saw an increase of 1.8 per cent, with spikes in shoplifting incidents and a significant increase in possession of stolen property cases.
Policing district two includes the Downtown Eastside and neighbourhoods along the Hastings Street corridor east to Boundary Road.
Break-ins down
Total number of break-and-enters across the city to homes, businesses and other personal property such as backyard sheds decreased by 10.8 per cent, from 603 to 538.
Break-ins to vehicles, or what police refer to as theft from autos, fell by 23.7 per cent, from 1,442 incidents in the first quarter of 2024 to 1,100 this year. The number of stolen catalytic converter reports decreased 92 per cent, from 221 incidents to 18.
Motor vehicle thefts declined by 22.9 per cent, from 153 incidents in the first quarter of 2024 to 118 between January and March of 2025.
Other types of theft increased by 11.2 per cent, rising from 2,786 incidents in the data study period to 3,097 this year, with notable increases in shoplifting and general theft. Shoplifting incidents at convenience stores experienced the most significant increase, rising by 263 per cent from 41 recorded in the study period to 149 this year.
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