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3 | The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,N ovem ber 19,2020 theifp.ca Our 20th An nual 45 Mountainview Road North, Georgetown, Ontario 905.877.7958 e-mail: hassellsauto@bellnet.ca • www.hassellautomotive.comSALES & SERVICE Super FALL Special HASSELL AUTOMOTIVE - Oil & Filter (Includes up to 6 litres regular oil.) - Complete top to bottom check over. - Installation of winter tires (already on rims) included. - $5.00 Tim's Card - Windshield Washer Fluid - 12 Pack of Pop EXTRAS $9495*Call for an Appointment Prices are +HST $7495*7495* Only Synthetic oil (up to 6 litres)*Most Vehicles. hassell automotive sales & service 45Mountainview RoadNorth, Georgetown, Ontario 905.877.7958 e-mail: hassellsauto@bellnet.ca • www.hassellautomotive.com Silver 2018 Halton Hills Our 21st Annua l NOWON! Halton police say CO- VID-19 helped take a signif- icant bite out of crime dur- ing the first half of 2020. Police Chief Stephen Tanner recently presented the Halton Police Board with a report summarizing the police service's perfor- mance between January and June. The report showed a de- crease in criminal activity in a number of categories within the region. In total the analysis showed there were 602 few- er crimes reported in Hal- ton during the first six months of 2020 with 4,850 incidents reported com- pared to 5,452 incidents re- ported during the same pe- riod in 2019. Tanner noted this is a decrease of 11 per cent but represents a drop in the crime rate of 13 per cent when regional population growth is taken into con- sideration. "This statistic, and most others provided in this re- port, was significantly im- pacted by the COVID-19 pandemic between March and June," wrote Tanner in the report. The report said violent crime offences (e.g. homi- cides, attempted homi- cides, various forms of as- sault) decreased by 4.1 per cent from 1,074 in 2019 to 1,030 in 2020. Tanner said this repre- sents a violent crime rate decrease of 6.3 per cent due to population growth. These crimes did ac- count for 21.2 per cent of all crimes in Halton, which is up from 19.7 per cent in 2019. The report found prop- erty crime (e.g. theft, breaking and entering, mischief) also took a hit, dropping by 11.8 per cent from 3,531 in 2019 to 3,116 in 2020. This represents a prop- erty crime rate decrease of 13.7 per cent. The total number of crimes solved also rose slightly in 2020 to 55.4 per cent from 55.3 per cent in 2019. The largest change could be seen in incidents involving vehicles. Police reported motor vehicle collisions were down 39.1 per cent in 2020 with 2,959 incidents com- pared to 4,857 in 2019. Property damage colli- sions dropped 39.4 per cent from 4,391 in 2019 to 2,662 in 2020. Collisions involving in- juries fell 36.2 per cent from 459 to 293 while fatal collisions dropped from seven in 2019 to four in 2020. Impaired driving also dropped by 8.3 per cent dur- ing the first half of 2020 from 217 incidents in 2019 to 199 in 2020. The drop in crime statis- tics was well received by the members of the Halton Police Board. "I would like to offer a sincere thank you and ku- dos to the men and women, both in uniform and civil- ian, in the police service," said Board Member Curt Allen. "It is very comforting, I think, for the community to see this performance through this difficult peri- od...I think it has been a tremendous effort." NEWS CRIME STATS DOWN DURING FIRST HALF OF 2020 DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com Halton Police Chief Stephen Tanner. Graham Paine/Torstar "This statistic, and most others provided in this report, was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic between March and June." - Halton Police Chief Stephen Tanner